In his first interview since taking up office, he told The Telegraph: “Every single river in England today is polluted… The public quite rightly are furious that they have to worry about letting their kids splash about in the river, for fear of what they might catch, because it’s [polluted](https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2024/06/24/rivers-south-pollution-contamination-dangerous/).”
Sewage was spilt 464,056 times last year, totalling more than 3.6 million hours, a record high since monitoring began, according to the latest data published by the Environment Agency.
Water companies are permitted to release sewage into rivers and seas during exceptional circumstances, such as extreme wet weather, to stop it backing up into people’s homes.
But the regularity of spills has led to criticism that the industry has failed to invest in infrastructure to cope with changing weather and increasing population.
And they want us to pay to clean it up. They can fuck right off
Well no shit, there are like 75m people living on this tiny fucking island
In my local area sticklebacks have vanished out of the shallower waterways, and the amphibian population has nose dived over the last few years. Hell, last year there was barely any frogspawn in the local waterways, and this year I spotted none outside of a small school of tadpoles swimming in the local nature preserve. But you know what I have seen? A brown, dirty foam on the waterways every April, just before spawning season, and algal blooms in the local canal that are indicative of phosphate run off from the local farmland. Amphibian populations are a *very* good indicator as to the health of your local waterways, their skin (being semi-permeable) making them far more prone to poisoning by toxins leaking into the water.
Every river/ocean in the world is polluted, this isn’t news.
No shit… Micro plastics are everywhere, so yeah, all rivers are polluted.
“Sewage was spilt 464,056 times last year, totalling more than 3.6 million hours, a record high since monitoring began”
All the way back in … 2022.
Also, he just wants to go back to the way things were when he was a kid, when the rivers and seas were … significantly worse, except there wasn’t the same media frenzy back then, so nobody cared. It’s a real shame he seems to be tackling the issue based on a handful of Guardian articles he happened to read, not on any actual data.
More BS “independent monitoring” “independent studies” etc.
I swear to god when I read this stuff I immediately know that fuck all will be done.
How about growing a pair of balls? We don’t need more studies. Get some teeth into these fuckers and start seizing assets or whatever drastic action you need to in order to force them to take this shit seriously.
Pollution is a problem. Rivers are polluted. But saying “every river in the country is polluted” is like saying “food has chemicals in it”. Like, no shit. It doesn’t really mean anything.
No shit, they let the water companies pollute them, charge those fucks to sort them out.
> He said his department’s new Water Bill will ensure that the companies face “automatic and severe fines for illegal pollution incidents”.
…
> Mr Reed said he will introduce further laws aimed at “fundamentally transforming” the water industry.
…
> This will include setting up a “partnership” between the Government and water sector aimed at raising billions of pounds of private sector investment and encouraging water companies to make long-term plans for investment in their infrastructure.
It’s a start I guess..
This should surely result in rolling heads? No?
Nationalise the water again we evidently can’t trust the cunts.
12 comments
***The Telegraph reports:***
Every single river in the country is polluted, the Environment Secretary has said as he warned that water companies have been covering up the true scale of [sewage](https://www.telegraph.co.uk/environment/2024/05/21/fordingbridge-designated-bathing-sites-uk-polluted-sewage/) spills.
[Steve Reed](https://www.telegraph.co.uk/business/2024/07/10/labour-launches-crackdown-on-water-companies/) said he is “not surprised” that people are worried about swimming in the sea, lakes and rivers around the country as there is no “guarantee” that the water is not contaminated.
In his first interview since taking up office, he told The Telegraph: “Every single river in England today is polluted… The public quite rightly are furious that they have to worry about letting their kids splash about in the river, for fear of what they might catch, because it’s [polluted](https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2024/06/24/rivers-south-pollution-contamination-dangerous/).”
Mr Reed said he will introduce a new system monitoring sewage [spills](https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2024/03/29/polluted-water-surge-hospital-admissions-sewage-health/), which involves independent scrutiny of the data, to stop water companies from “massaging the figures”.
The Environment Agency is currently conducting the largest-ever [criminal investigation](https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2024/07/16/ofwat-water-companies-investigate-potential-illegal-sewage/) into potential law breaking by water and sewerage companies at thousands of sewage treatment works.
Sewage was spilt 464,056 times last year, totalling more than 3.6 million hours, a record high since monitoring began, according to the latest data published by the Environment Agency.
Water companies are permitted to release sewage into rivers and seas during exceptional circumstances, such as extreme wet weather, to stop it backing up into people’s homes.
But the regularity of spills has led to criticism that the industry has failed to invest in infrastructure to cope with changing weather and increasing population.
**Read more:** [**https://www.telegraph.co.uk/politics/2024/07/20/steve-reed-pollution-seaside-rivers-lakes-swimming-sewage/**](https://www.telegraph.co.uk/politics/2024/07/20/steve-reed-pollution-seaside-rivers-lakes-swimming-sewage/)
And they want us to pay to clean it up. They can fuck right off
Well no shit, there are like 75m people living on this tiny fucking island
In my local area sticklebacks have vanished out of the shallower waterways, and the amphibian population has nose dived over the last few years. Hell, last year there was barely any frogspawn in the local waterways, and this year I spotted none outside of a small school of tadpoles swimming in the local nature preserve. But you know what I have seen? A brown, dirty foam on the waterways every April, just before spawning season, and algal blooms in the local canal that are indicative of phosphate run off from the local farmland. Amphibian populations are a *very* good indicator as to the health of your local waterways, their skin (being semi-permeable) making them far more prone to poisoning by toxins leaking into the water.
Every river/ocean in the world is polluted, this isn’t news.
No shit… Micro plastics are everywhere, so yeah, all rivers are polluted.
“Sewage was spilt 464,056 times last year, totalling more than 3.6 million hours, a record high since monitoring began”
All the way back in … 2022.
Also, he just wants to go back to the way things were when he was a kid, when the rivers and seas were … significantly worse, except there wasn’t the same media frenzy back then, so nobody cared. It’s a real shame he seems to be tackling the issue based on a handful of Guardian articles he happened to read, not on any actual data.
More BS “independent monitoring” “independent studies” etc.
I swear to god when I read this stuff I immediately know that fuck all will be done.
How about growing a pair of balls? We don’t need more studies. Get some teeth into these fuckers and start seizing assets or whatever drastic action you need to in order to force them to take this shit seriously.
Pollution is a problem. Rivers are polluted. But saying “every river in the country is polluted” is like saying “food has chemicals in it”. Like, no shit. It doesn’t really mean anything.
No shit, they let the water companies pollute them, charge those fucks to sort them out.
> He said his department’s new Water Bill will ensure that the companies face “automatic and severe fines for illegal pollution incidents”.
…
> Mr Reed said he will introduce further laws aimed at “fundamentally transforming” the water industry.
…
> This will include setting up a “partnership” between the Government and water sector aimed at raising billions of pounds of private sector investment and encouraging water companies to make long-term plans for investment in their infrastructure.
It’s a start I guess..
This should surely result in rolling heads? No?
Nationalise the water again we evidently can’t trust the cunts.