Campaign
Turn outrage into action
Britain’s sewage scandal must end
Across Britain, people are becoming ill, wildlife is being devastated and rivers and coastal waters are being polluted.
This campaign is about public health and accountability.
Channel 4’s powerful three-part factual drama Dirty Business has brought the human consequences of the crisis into millions of homes. Surfers Against Sewage is now working with 38 Degrees to turn that public outrage into political action.
Watch the series. Sign the petition. Ask others to act.
WATCH DIRTY BUSINESS SIGN THE PETITION
Sign the petition
End the sewage pollution scandal
Windrush Against Sewage Pollution (WASP), via e-Petition 762640, is calling on the government to hold a referendum to bring the water industry into public ownership.
The petition demands that:
- public health must come before private profit;
- profit from sewage pollution must end;
- the Government must end the present privatised water-industry model;
- failing water companies should be taken back under public control and restructured;
- water services must operate for people and the environment;
- no option—including public ownership—should be excluded.
More than 208,000 people have already signed. The campaign is seeking a million voices to demonstrate the strength of public demand for fundamental reform.
Add your name
Signing takes only a few moments. Your name will join a growing national movement demanding clean water, corporate accountability and a water system that protects public health.
SIGN THE WINDRUSH AGAINST SEWAGE PETITION
Already signed? Please send the petition to one other person.
Watch Dirty Business
The sewage scandal has human victims
Dirty Business is a three-part Channel 4 factual drama based upon real people, real investigations and the consequences of sewage pollution.
The series follows two determined investigators—a retired police detective and a computational biologist—as they examine dying fish, analyse water-company data and uncover evidence about sewage discharges into England’s waterways.
Inspired partly by the work of Windrush Against Sewage Pollution, the drama brings together campaigners, whistleblowers and people whose lives have been changed by polluted water.
Its cast includes David Thewlis, Jason Watkins, Asim Chaudhry and Posy Sterling.
More than statistics
At the emotional heart of the series is the story of Heather Preen, who died aged eight after contracting an E. coli infection following a family holiday in Devon.
Heather’s mother, Julie Maughan, has spent years seeking answers and campaigning to prevent other families suffering the same tragedy.
The series also tells the story of surfer and teacher Reuben Santer, whose life was permanently changed after becoming seriously ill following exposure to polluted water.
Behind every pollution figure is a river, a beach, a community—and sometimes a devastated family.
WATCH ALL THREE EPISODES ON CHANNEL 4
Ask your MP to watch
Watching the programme is only the beginning.
Surfers Against Sewage has created a simple online tool enabling you to ask your Member of Parliament to watch Dirty Business and press for action.
Your MP can:
- raise the sewage crisis in Parliament;
- support stronger public-health protections;
- demand continuous water-quality monitoring;
- hold polluters and regulators accountable;
- meet those directly affected by sewage pollution;
- press the Government to reform failing water companies;
- ensure the forthcoming Clean Water Bill produces genuine change.
Why Liquid Gold Black Water supports this campaign
Liquid Gold Black Water tells the longer story behind the scandal exposed by Dirty Business.
The book explains how a water and sewerage system built through generations of public investment became a collection of private regional monopolies. It examines how debt, dividends, regulatory weakness and inadequate long-term investment contributed to the crisis now confronting Britain.
Dirty Business reveals the human cost. The Surfers Against Sewage petition builds public pressure.
Liquid Gold Black Water follows the history, the money and the decisions that brought us here and argues for a water system founded upon public health, environmental responsibility and democratic accountability.
These are independent initiatives, united by one unavoidable conclusion: Britain’s water system must change!
These are independent initiatives, united by one unavoidable conclusion: Britain’s water system must change.
Three things you can do today
1. Watch
Watch all three episodes of Channel 4’s Dirty Business and encourage your family, friends and colleagues to do the same.
2. Sign
Add your name to the Windrush Against Sewage Pollution, via e-Petition 762640.
3. Contact your MP
Ask your representative to watch the series and support fundamental reform of the water industry.
PEOPLE BEFORE PAYOUTS
Clean water is not a political luxury.
It is essential to public health, thriving communities and a living natural environment.
Our rivers and seas belong to everyone.
Their protection cannot be subordinated to short-term financial returns.
Watch. Sign. Share. Act.
WATCH DIRTY BUSINESS SIGN THE PETITION EMAIL YOUR MP
Liquid Gold Black Water is an independent book and website. It is not produced by, sponsored by or formally affiliated with Channel 4, Surfers Against Sewage or 38 Degrees or any other party.
The public built it. Private finance exploited it. Now Britain must decide how to reclaim it.