Can someone explain why are rivers and beaches are full of shit?

[ArseInTheCoOpWindow]

Is it Brexit? It’s happened so fast. 5 years ago we went to Cornwall and the seas were lovely. Now l keep reading pollution is being pumped into the sea.

Is it the water companies? Too much rain? The government🙄

Im 60, l vaguely remember this in the past 70’s/80’s. But not like this?

Or is it a perfect storm of everything?

Yes and any sane, responsible goverment would know this and make sure water companies are made to invest in infrastructure. Instead the Tory’s do not care, as long as the private companies are making a profit.

Privatised, foreign owned, water companies paying large dividends to shareholders rather than investing in infrastructure. Toothless Environmental Agency failing to enforce laws/ regulations. Tories are threatening Thames Water with privatisation after shareholders refused to invest £500M. Company instead wanted to increase bills by 40% but government has said no. Company reputedly has 2.7bn in cash ….

Check your region.

www.theguardian.com/environment/ng-interactive/2024/mar/27/englands-sewage-crisis-how-polluted-is-your-local-river-and-which-regions-are-worst-hit

But l read something yesterday about some woman who won’t go wild swimming in Cornwall the last few weeks. Because the sea is a turd fest. And that was near the shore.

Privatisation is weird - as we have no choice about our water supplier.

It's not like there is competition in the market.

Because humans f* up the planet.

The best thing we can do is stop reproducing, start using 100% renewable resources, and other things people won't do.

So basically, we're screwed. Might as well enjoy yourself while it lasts, watch the world burn, and make it harder for the Instagram generation.

You're being very unfair on the Tories. All they want is to accumate wealth by lining their pockets with money from shares, shortcuts and loopholes.

This. Water companies should get huge fines but Ofwat don't do their job well. My DH used to work for them and left because of this issue. He got so angry about this and water companies not replacing old faulty pipes so lots of water wasted.

• Privatisation
• Rampant greed
• Tory government and regulator that let water companies get away with it
• Brexit.

It is madness to put a natural resource like water in the grasping hands of private companies/investors, often foreign ones who really don't care about what is happening here.

They did not invest in the ageing system and instead focused on making as much money as possible for their directors and shareholders. It is cheaper for them to dump raw sewage everywhere than to invest in a proper system.

The next government needs to get rid of these parasites and renationalise water, gas and transport. With climate change resources need to be managed for the good of the majority, not to put more money in the pocket of corporations.

As someone who lives in a seaside town I am so angry as to what has been done to our environment...

If my local Tory MP is reading this, if OFWAT backs down and Thames Water imposes 40% increases on the water bill, you can kiss goodbye to your majority.

Do not enter the water: how dirty Boat Race has captured world’s attention | The Boat Race | The Guardian

Throughout the Boat Race’s 195-year history, it has been regarded by the rest of the world as one of those peculiar British eccentricities, like Marmite and pantomime, that are best ignored. Not this year.
The New York Times, Fox News, ABC, CNN and numerous other international media have run stories in the buildup to Saturday’s race – although it is what is floating in the Thames, rather than on top of it, that has piqued their interest.

As Thursday’s New York Times put it: “The warning was stern: Do not enter the water. Not because of the tide. Not because of sharks. Because of the sewage.
“For almost two centuries, rowers from Oxford University have raced their rivals from Cambridge in a contest that typically ends with jubilant members of the victorious crew jumping into the River Thames in celebration. This year they will be staying as dry as possible.”

@IvorTheEngineDriver 'only' this will lose your Tory MP thief majority? So many issues.....

This ain’t a new thing. “Shit” both literal and figurative, has always been pumped out to sea and in our rivers. You’re only hearing about it bow because of people raising awareness.

And yes, this is because water companies are private organisation and have more interest in raising money that providing a service to us, and to the environment.

It’s despicable.

You weren’t looking in the right places then. I remember swimming with “nutty cruisers” in the seventies and early eighties on many a Cornish beach

There's a miss conception in this country that some private investors should invest in infrastructure for the good of the country, the only way of getting private investments is offering a return over time, it's like a credit card.

There are numerous options but none of them free:
Private companies borrow money but as proven with Thames water, the credit card has run out. Increased bills to pay the higher borrowing costs of being higher risk
Nationalise and the government borrow the money and higher bills or taxation.

Government becomes an investor in the private companies, higher tax
Continue as we are and accept infrastructure will improve but will take decades

In the end all options will cost the consumer more, the problem being increased population and more awareness than before are driving this. It's particularly bad this year as it's been a wet winter.

No it’s not new.

But there was a time when rivers and seas were cleaner. And we seem to have gone back to the days in the 80’s, when people were told not to swim at Blackpool because it was full of shit.

Probably better than it's ever been, at least we don't pump heavy metals in the waterways anymore

They were clean in the 2010’s.

I don’t know about 70’s and 80’s

Two further reasons.

Misconections from new buildings and home extensions where the waste water is wrongly connected to the surface water line rather than the waste line. A big issue in some areas. Sewage goes straight into the surface water system and rivers.

Years and years of underfunding of the regulatory bodies carrying out inspections of water quality. There's no one left to inspect and certainly no one with any meaningful experience.

This is a 2 year old article on the issues - with some historic references

Sewage island: how Britain came to spew its raw waste into the sea | Water | The Guardian

This ^^

I probably won't be able to find the link now, but remember someone pointing out that last year, the amount they put on bills supposedly to "upgrade the system" was almost exactly what they paid out to shareholders

They really must think we're stupid

Increasing heavy rainfall events (climate change) means more frequent overflows from the combined sewers. To fix this means digging up and replacing loads of sewers or buying land to build huge underground holding tanks. Both expensive and disruptive. So it's not an overnight fix and does need to be paid for somehow.

And a link to surfers against sewage - which has been campaigning on this for ages.

I remember this when I did scuba diving in the 1990s

Surfers Against Sewage - UK charity campaigning for the ocean (sas.org.uk)

And their water quality report

2023 Water Quality Report - Surfers Against Sewage (sas.org.uk)

Pippa and Tarquin encountered it yesterday while trying to enjoy the privilege fest that is the Varsity race for entitled inbreds. So now it makes the news.