Our CEO Aimee Felus responds to the recent Channel 4 docudrama - Dirty Business:
I know I wasn’t alone in watching in horror as the events unfolded in Dirty Business, Channel 4’s docudrama on the sewage crisis which aired recently. This was a hard watch, for the depiction of chronic damage done to our rivers, but mostly because of the devastating human stories portrayed.
It follows heroic citizen scientists Ash Smith and Peter Hammond from Windrush Against Sewage Pollution (WASP) and their tireless campaign to expose illegal sewage dumping in their beloved Windrush and beyond. It showed the human costs of this scandal, where children are infected and even died after being exposed to deadly diseases whilst playing on our beaches.
The levels of immorality and criminality depicted within the water companies are shocking, and accurate.
Purposeful asset stripping by investors, resulting in huge profits for shareholders, is at the pinnacle of the despicable action which has led us to this sewage crisis. Our rivers have been damaged and depleted, some barely clinging to life. And some people have paid the ultimate price. It’s not just capitalism exploiting a poorly regulated system, its capitalism exploiting us. And exploiting our shared natural heritage which should sustain us and elevate our lives.
The drama also depicted nauseating and maddening levels of incompetence, amorality and apparent apathy in the Environment Agency (EA), who are supposed to regulate the water industry and safeguard us and our rivers from this damage. Successive governments have slashed regulation and cut investment in the EA, leaving them as an organisation that can barely function to carry out its core work. Just recently we learned that there is not even one Enforcement Officer currently dedicated to working in our region. In 2024 the Office for Environmental Protection found ‘deeply concerning’ issues with how the laws to protect our rivers are implemented by Defra and the EA. Both organisations are now the focus of another ongoing investigation by the OEP for possible failure to comply with the law.
We work with two water companies, Southern (who supply water and wastewater services) and Portsmouth (water supply only), as well as working closely with the Environment Agency. The qualities we see amongst their staff could not be further from the criminality and incompetence shown in this drama. What we see are highly skilled and knowledgeable people with integrity who want to achieve the same as us, to make rivers better. The only difference is that they’ve chosen to do it from the inside.
It’s not always easy being a water company or EA employee, taking a battering from the opinion of friends and family, avoiding the question about work at social occasions. We need to stand with these people, to work positively and collaboratively with them. They care deeply. The worst possible outcome for our rivers is that all these people leave water companies and the regulator because they are dragged down by the weight of the task. Who are we left with then?
We see two fundamental problems holding these great people back from being able to work at the speed and scale needed to solve the sewage crisis. Firstly, the struggle to operate effective wastewater treatment with outdated infrastructure that suffered from decades of underinvestment. In many cases it is simply not fit for purpose. Southern Water is trying to change this, but it’s not a quick fix, and we can be sure that change won’t come fast enough for any of us.
Secondly, there are many situations in which Southern Water want to do the right thing for the environment, but they are prevented from doing so by their other regulator, Ofwat. Or they want to implement nature-based solutions which we know bring multiple benefits, but Defra will not allow them to, because hard engineering is ‘more measurable’.
I am certainly not defending water companies and the EA. Much change is needed, and what we saw depicted in Dirty Business is unforgiveable. But we know that the issue is far more complex and nuanced than it is portrayed in the media. Poorly maintained septic tanks, agricultural and road run-off, pharmaceuticals, dog flea and tick treatments…there are myriad ways that our rivers are polluted with substances which can be deadly to wildlife, and to us, and we all need to take our share of responsibility.
In July 2025 the government published the findings of the Independent Water Commission for reform to improve the water sector regulatory system. A positive action we could all take would be to tell our representatives that we want to see these recommendations urgently implemented. Contact your MP and tell them how important your rivers are to you.
At WSRT we have our own wonderful citizen scientists, our River Guardians who test water quality to build a picture of the health of our rivers, identifying pollution hotspots, failing treatment works, chronic problems. The data they collect doesn’t just disappear into a computer, it’s open on our website for anyone to use. And our promise to our River Guardians, and to you, is that we will always use their data to push for real change. For some of these issues it’s going to take us a while, we’re pushing for systemic change, and that’s a long slog. But we will always do it. We will never collect data for data’s sake. You can help by supporting our River Guardians, or becoming a River Guardian yourself.
We can also support the incredible campaigners, like Peter and Ash from WASP, who are willing to dedicate their lives to exposing the injustices inflicted upon our rivers, and therefore, upon us. Every child should have a safe stream they can play in; everyone should be able to enjoy a day out at the beach without fear they will get sick. I really believe we can achieve this.
To do so will take all of us working together.