You can’t boycott water companies, but you can join campaigns for them to invest more in treating sewage, instead of giving huge profits to shareholders.
This is happening with the campaign to Save Windermere, via a 10-point plan, to stop illegal dumping of raw sewage into England’s largest lake.
Rainwater in theory should dilute sewage, but with a population of 60 million people, it’s no longer possible to rely on a downpour to treat it for us.
You can report sewage pollution. Signs are:
- Distressed animals (call local wildlife rescue) or dead animals or fish (gasping for air)
- ‘Toilet waste’ (bathroom tissue and things that should not be flushed but are: wet wipes, condoms, sanitary towels/tampons)
- Bad odours and brown water. Treated water is grey or black. Surfers Against Sewage writes that ‘if the water’s brown and smells like shit – it probably is’.
Surfers Against Sewage is a charity that was founded in Cornwall, by concerned surfers over local sewage issues. Today it’s a major charity that campaigns politically against illegal discharge of raw sewage. You can report water pollution to them.
SAS says if brown foamy water is lapping at the shore and ‘smells funky – it’s probably shit’.
This is a wonderful organisation that has now gone beyond surfing issues. You can get involved in volunteer beach cleans, and was instrumental in bringing about the ban on single-use plastic cotton buds.
What Causes Sewage Pollution?
The main cause is Sewer Overflows (it’s legal for water companies to discharge untreated wastewater during heavy rain periods, but this is now happening more on a routine basis, using an old system that can’t cope). Major investment is needed, but instead the big water companies are giving out billions in dividends instead.
In 2023, Anglian Water was fined £2.65 million for letting untreated sewage overflow into the North Sea due to decommissioning equipment, and failed to act on data due to no alarm system). This is to date, England’s largest ever environmental fine.
Many people get ill from swimming in our seas and rivers. You can submit a sickness report to help their monitoring and campaigning. Risks include gastroenteritis, hepatitis and E.coli (bodyguards and wild swimmers are three times more likely, to carry this antibiotic-resistant bacteria in their guts).
Campaigns Against Plastic Pollution
Nearly all the ocean’s plastic has now sunk to the seafloor, so the only way to clean up our seas, is to stop using plastic in the first place (and this includes using tools like microfibre filters to catch microplastics in washing machines, and choosing a mostly zero waste lifestyle (reusable over disposable etc).
Already the Great Pacific Garbage Patch (a whirlpool of ocean currents that collects plastic debris) is twice the size of France, with oceanographer Charles Moore predicting it will double in size soon, if lifestyles don’t change.
There are many campaigns now across England, to have local water boards divert profits from shareholders to upgraded sewage treatment.
On Lake Windermere (Cumbria), there is a big campaign to stop the local water board pumping raw sewage into England’s large body of water, rather than paying out millions in dividends.
Download the Surfers against Sewage app to report sickness or pollution, to help them take action against water companies that don’t clean up their mess.
In 2023, Anglian Water was fined £2.65 million for letting untreated sewage overflow into the North Sea due to decommissioning equipment, and failed to act on data due to no alarm system (this is the largest ever environmental fine).
SAS says if brown foamy water is lapping at the shore and ‘smells funky – it’s probably shit’.
On Lake Windermere, massive amounts of untreated sewage have been flowing both into this lake, and surrounding areas (the lake is drained from its southern most point by River Leven, and replenished by several other surrounding rivers including Brathay, Rothay, Trout Beck and Cunsey Beck.
Yet despite many campaigns (a serious leak emitted raw sewage for 7 days into a stream near Hawkshead and the adjoining village of Near Sawrey (the site of Beatrix Potter’s home), the water board continued to give massive dividends to shareholders, rather than making cleaning up the river the top priority.
This pollution is not just harming humans and pets (the founder of the Save Windermere campaign is a local who broke his back, and used morning wild swims to heal both physically and mentally). But it is harming local fish and the wildlife (otters, kingfishers) that feed on them.
Campaigners want stricter government laws to stop pollution, alongside a ban on any sewage (treated or not) going into Lake Windermere.
Ideas proposed include monitoring to study inputs, and monitoring the scale of pollution locally at 15 sample river sites.
Sewage adds something called phosphorus, which creates algae blooms, and this starves the lakes of oxygen (the same reason why environmentalists say to avoid phosphates and chemicals in laundry powder – search our site, we list loads of alternatives!)
Eventually blooms explode and kill surrounding wildlife and fish. Many fish have suffered at nearby Cunsey Beck including Atlantic salmon, white-clawed crayfish, European river eels, trout, pike and perch. The Arctic charr (the local species of fish that has existed since the Ice Age) is now extinct locally.
