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00:11The
00:12privatized water is a better deal than nationalized water.
00:17That the water privatization, I believe, will go very successfully indeed.
00:23That will go very successfully indeed.
00:25And perhaps therefore we have better way to see so that we can pontificate in the light of the fact.
00:53Lewis! Lewis! What did I tell you about that seaweed? Do not throw it!
01:03You hungry?
01:07Ice cream! No! No. We just got here, you wouldn't.
01:10Yeah, we'll get it on the way back to the chalet, all right?
01:13Yeah, we'll get it, we'll get it back.
01:15I did, isn't it? I do promise you, I will. I promise.
01:27Girls, wait, please. Heather, stop!
01:30Bloody hell.
01:32Heather, I told you to stop, didn't I?
01:36Think that's poo? Of course, it's not poo.
01:38It's poo.
01:42It's poo.
01:43It's poo.
01:44It's poo.
01:45It's poo.
01:45It's poo.
01:46It's poo.
01:46Don't come in.
01:47Don't come in like that.
01:49How far shall I go?
01:50Go as far as you can.
01:52All right, all right, all right.
01:53I'm going to put you in there.
01:55Wash it off.
01:56Scrub it.
01:56You what?
01:57Scrub it.
01:58Here, Heather.
01:59Have I got it?
02:00Don't you think?
02:01Don't you think?
02:02Don't you think?
02:03You what?
02:05Yeah, I think so.
02:05Get a towel.
02:07Here, get a dry.
02:08Me.
02:09There you go.
02:10We've got a smelly little mermaid.
02:11Still smells that.
02:14Is that ticklish?
02:15Yeah.
02:16Do the other one.
02:17What about that one?
02:19No.
02:19No?
02:20Oh, look at that.
02:36I think it was quite remarkable, really, that with most of the fresh water fish, and England
02:42was just on this stretch, most of it, including the chub.
02:46The chub came later, of course.
02:49They're gone.
02:50What, the chub?
02:51Well, the chub, the barbell, the eels, everything.
02:55Well, yes, I mean, the water's brown.
03:01You don't really think about the colour, um, when you see it every day.
03:08I mean, the brown here just seems normal.
03:12Would Eileen still do that water vole register?
03:16No.
03:16No, that's, uh, no.
03:17They're gone as well.
03:22I mean, I remember when I first came here that it was crystalline, isn't it?
03:50You never talk about your work.
03:52Well, I'd often, you know, it's part of the training.
03:56It's not sort of, you know, a dinner conversation.
03:58You're tired now.
03:59It's not like I'm a Russian spy, am I?
04:02It's not like I'm, you know, not working for Putin, am I?
04:05That makes me wonder now.
04:06Why would you say that?
04:07That's a bit odd.
04:08You investigated Ben Coppers, wasn't it?
04:11Yeah, 25 years.
04:12Well, come on, but 25 years you must have, you must have some stories, mustn't you?
04:17Not really.
04:19Why don't you have the game pie?
04:20I don't like game pie.
04:22Shall we get some mixed greens?
04:23No.
04:24I'm just having the soup and the crusty bread.
04:27That sounds nice.
04:28I think that's extra, is it?
04:29No, no, no.
04:30That's right, yes.
04:32Er, there will have been some minor discoloration in one or two sections of the river.
04:39There's, erm, there's been a discharge from the Burford Works.
04:43A discharge?
04:44Discharge of what?
04:46Er, untreated sewage.
04:47Yeah, legally they're allowed to spill after heavy rainfall.
04:53So they can, they can, they can just do that, can't they?
04:56That's what you said.
04:57They're allowed to dump untreated sewage into the river right after heavy rain.
05:03But that, that can't be right, cos it, it rains all the time.
05:07Well, heavy rain, he said.
05:08I don't remember any heavy rain, do you?
05:10You know, I'm gonna, er, write to Thames Water and ask how many times they've put sewage into the woods.
05:16Well, they're, they're not gonna tell you that.
05:17Oh, yeah, yeah, they've got to.
05:18What's the law?
05:20Dear Mr Smith, no untreated sewage has been discharged into the river Windrush for the past three years.
05:27Untreated sewage mixed with treated sewage has been discharged 240 times.
05:33Kind regards.
05:34When did that come in?
05:35When did it come in that you could put untreated sewage into the river per se?
05:40I don't see how putting any kind of pathogens into the river could possibly be allowed.
05:46I mean, people are swimming in there.
05:48Dear Mr Smith, in response to your request for information, please find attached the documents below.
05:54Kind regards.
05:56Wankers.
05:57This must be like, like one of your cases, mustn't it? All this?
06:03When you used to be a detective?
06:05No.
06:06But, you know, poisonous stuff in the river, and we're not being warned about it?
06:11That, that'd be a, that'd be a scandal.
06:25It's a tummy bug, 48-hour thing, plenty of liquids.
06:30I'll give you some anti-sickness tablets just to stop the vomiting.
06:33OK?
06:36Heather.
06:38How many was it?
06:39The doctor said you got to take your medicine now.
06:42I see.
06:44Close your eyes if you want, ma'am.
06:46Yeah, keep them closed.
06:47Here you go.
06:50Well, exactly.
06:51No, they said treated sewage mixed with untreated sewage, 240 times.
06:56Yeah.
07:09This is free jazz, is it?
07:12Oh, um, no, it's, it's not free jazz. It's, uh, contemporary jazz. And so they like free jazz.
07:17Right.
07:19And people pay money to listen to them.
07:21She's just come round to piss me off.
07:24No.
07:24I'm gonna show you something.
07:26Look at this.
07:28So, uh, what is this?
07:29Uh, this is, uh, is this a reply from Thames Water?
07:32They're drowning me in numbers.
07:34Oh, I can see that.
07:35I mean, how are you supposed to make anything of that crap?
07:38Well, maybe, maybe that's what they're banking on.
07:40There's a needle in there somewhere, just, you know, go through the haste act to find it.
07:44You're the Oxford Professor of Mathematics.
07:46Yeah.
07:47No.
07:48Computational biology.
07:49It's not, um...
07:50Still math.
07:51It's nice machine learning, actually.
07:53So what's that like?
07:54AI?
07:55I know you're gonna take the piss, but it's, it's a bit like free jazz.
07:58Oh!
08:00Depressing and pointless.
08:01Uh, no.
08:02Look, there's rules.
08:04So there's a kind of order beneath the, the chaos.
08:08Um, and you've gotta listen really hard, uh, for the patents.
08:12Why don't you just email me these and I'll, I'll take a look.
08:39Fuck me.
08:47These, what you've given me, they're, they're flow numbers.
08:50They track the sewage coming into the works and the rate at which is treated so it's safe to go
08:56back into the river.
08:58But there's something weird about this.
09:01Yeah?
09:02What?
09:03Well, here, look.
09:05Now, on the 27th of December, the flow of treated effluent coming out of the works just stops. It just
09:13stops completely.
09:15Right, what do you mean it stops?
09:16The flow, it just stops. There's no, there's no treated effluent going back into the river.
09:22So, two days after Christmas the people of Burford stop going to the toilet?
09:26No, no.
09:27See, this is it.
09:28Because the raw sewage is still going into the works, but there's nothing coming out.
09:37Now that's, that's just not right.
09:42So, what do we do?
09:43I don't know.
09:44We go back to them and say, give us a bit more detail.
09:46Is that Ashley and Peter?
09:48Yeah, yes, yes.
09:49Well, thanks so much for taking my call.
09:51It's Commander Aylard here.
09:53External Affairs and Sustainability at Thames.
09:57Richard, lovely to speak with you.
09:58Listen, I thought, well, why not get on the old dog and bow?
10:01Well, we appreciate your calling. Thank you.
10:03Not at all. Having our feet held to the fire like this is the thing that keeps us focused.
10:06Yeah, we've, um, what we've been asking about this anomaly in the flow data.
10:11Um, on the 27th of December, there's no treated effluent going back into the river.
10:17Yeah.
10:17Nobody seems to be able to explain why that is.
10:20It's taken too long to get to the bottom of this.
10:22I've had to put some rockets up a few jaxes, frankly.
10:27Turns out the flow meters at Burford were, on the blink, heavy rain.
10:33Uh, the sewage flow was normal, but the, the sensors weren't generating any data.
10:40Uh, safe to assume, uh, the people at Burford did not stop discharging.
10:46Uh, the measurements were, uh, temporarily interrupted.
10:50It's weird. It's weird.
10:52And we'd like to invite you on, uh, a tour of the Burford works.
10:57It's, it's just strange, isn't it, that, um, all of the sensors stopped working at that one point.
11:03We can't think of any other explanation, frankly, but, uh, you know.
11:06I won't be there, regrettably, but Leonie will be there, and you'll be in very good hands.
11:11You know, of course we'd like to do more, but the challenge is that Burford sewers are basically Victorian.
11:16Does anyone actually work here?
11:19It's an unmanned facility.
11:21Oh, it should be unpeopled, really, shouldn't it?
11:25Do they have unpeopled works in Victorian times?
11:28Good one, no. Um, but we do have a state-of-the-art network of sensors,
11:33which, uh, track all the treated fluid and effluent through the works.
11:37So, um, nobody, nobody works here?
11:41The sensors automatically transmit data to our Waste Operation Control Centre in Reading 24 hours a day.
11:49Right.
11:49Oh, that's what we call the telemetry.
11:52And what happens if something breaks down?
11:56Oh, so our works are serviced by a team of mobile engineers.
12:01If a piece of kit malfunctions, a trigger will sensor an alarm,
12:05and an engineer is dispatched within two hours.
12:08Right.
12:09Oh!
12:10Oh, in here is where the engineers' logbooks live.
12:15They, uh, keep a record of anything that happens in one of these.
12:19But, um, stuff up here, this is the really exciting part.
12:21So this is all the live, real-time data being uploaded from the plants.
12:26Yes, I can see it's, uh, quite extensive, isn't it?
12:29You can see the information coming through, can't you?
12:34Mm, yeah.
12:35It's funny, cos, like, you know, all the data's being pumped out, you can see it,
12:39but actually no-one's looking at it.
12:40You could save a bit of electricity there, couldn't you?
12:43What's that over there? You've got, um, sort of cafe...?
12:46No, that is our dedicated breakout zones.
12:49You know, for teas, coffees, relaxation, um, yeah, any time.
12:54It's inviting, inviting, isn't it?
12:56Yeah, no, it's nice, I like it.
12:57It's just nobody's here to enjoy the tea, aren't you?
12:59Oh, no, no, well, thank God.
13:01That would mean something's going wrong.
13:04All right, thank you.
13:06Great.
13:07Yeah, great.
13:08Ooh, sorry.
13:09There's a hole there.
13:11Did anyone mention that we'd been invited to the town hall in Burford?
13:15The commander wants us all there.
13:16It's really exciting, actually.
13:17You know, we think it's important that we hold our hands up when mistakes are made.
13:25God, did you see her face?
13:29Like, you were like...
13:32I can't believe it.
13:34And we can ask for all the telemetry, and you know, they've got to give it to us.
13:37That's, that's hundreds of thousands of data points, and everything that goes on in the works.
13:43Right, right, just try not to get too excited.
13:45Well, I'm just saying.
13:48I'm just saying, calm down.
13:54OK, have you been giving her plenty of liquids?
13:58Yes.
13:59Yeah.
13:59Been keeping her warm?
14:00Yes.
14:01Did everything you said.
14:02OK, and are there any more symptoms?
14:05Yes.
14:05I've got to see...
14:08She's been bleeding from her backside, Doctor.
14:10I'm calling an ambulance.
14:16So, look, I've got the telemetry for Burford, and I've deciphered the engineer's handwriting.
14:2427th of December, engineer's name is Michael Lazarus.
14:31It turns out here that at eight minutes past five, on the morning of the 27th, the alarm got triggered
14:39at the works, and the communications had failed.
14:43But it must have been intermittent, because at eight minutes past six, the centre got a message to say that
14:50both the main inlet pumps had failed.
14:55Then, at 16 minutes past eight, another alarm was triggered.
15:01The storm tank was overflowing.
15:05And that's when the dumping started.
15:09So, the pumps have packed up, the storm tank's overflowing, you've got three alarms sounding.
15:15Obviously, they've dispatched an engineer.
15:19Not for five and a half hours.
15:23What?!
15:26Wet pumps one and two, both failed.
15:29Return liquor pump, failed.
15:30Balancing tank, full.
15:32Untreated sewage tank, full.
15:33Effluent chamber, flooded.
15:37I don't need this shit.
15:45Storm tank's filled to the top.
15:47All the sewage is flushing into the river.
15:52Set.
15:58Return liquor pump, reset.
16:01Set.
16:01Might fail again.
16:04But the handle's just gonna hold.
16:07Trying my best here.
16:10Everything's failing, he did what he could to patch things up.
16:13But by then, it's been dumping sewage into the Windrush for over five hours.
16:19Yeah, and we know, we know that there wasn't any heavy rainfall, like Aylard said, because there didn't even rain
16:26on that day.
16:26Yeah.
16:27And then the oxidation tank failed on the 28th.
16:31The rotation arms packed up on the 29th.
16:35Burford was falling apart.
16:37They couldn't handle all the sewage it was taken in, so it was just flushing everything into the river.
16:42And I feel that Mickey's the kind of person who's in the habit of telling the truth, don't you?
16:48Yeah.
16:49What about Commander Aylard?
17:00The results are back from the lab.
17:03It's quite serious.
17:06Heather has been infected with E. coli.
17:10The most aggressive strain.
17:130157.
17:17We're going to keep her comfortable, keep an eye on her, and hope that it passes through.
17:21Can you sleep?
17:22No.
17:24It's possible that the virus could attack Heather's kidney functions, which might have serious consequences for other organs.
17:40This was really about a temporary malfunction to the alarm, we think at least partly caused by the heavy rainfall
17:48that day, rather than any actual interruption to the treatment process.
17:52So what I'd like to do...
17:54Sorry, can I say a few words, Commander?
17:58Yes, of course.
17:59There was no heavy rain.
18:02In fact, it didn't rain at all.
18:06If you'll bear with me, what I have here is the engineer's logbooks.
18:13The engineer is called Michael Lazarus.
18:16And what you can see from Mr Lazarus's logs is that the alarms were in fact functioning as normal.
18:25They were triggered as soon as the flooding began.
18:27And the thing is, Mr Lazarus was not dispatched to the works for more than five hours.
18:34The plant was falling apart.
18:36It couldn't treat the sewage it was taking in, and so it was just pumping it all out directly into
18:43the river.
18:47Well, thanks so much, Ash, and to you, Peter.
18:52It does look as though I've been misinformed, and I intend to get to the bottom of this, and I'll
18:59be putting my thumb on whoever...
19:02So what are you going to do about what these two gentlemen have said? What's going to happen now?
19:05I think that we are both shocked, absolutely shocked, to hear that information, because we were...
19:12You said one thing, they've actually backed up with evidence something completely the opposite.
19:17Our river.
19:18Yeah.
19:19You're just dumping it, and just covering everything up.
19:23And making money.
19:24And what's the long-term problems with the wildlife, the fish and the birds?
19:29What's happening with those?
19:30The ecological welfare of our rivers and our waterways is something that we find incredible.
19:35Absolutely.
19:37And what are you doing?
19:38So that's why?
19:38Nothing.
19:40You're polluting our water.
19:41I wouldn't even let my dog scream in the river now.
19:44It's disgusting.
19:44It is our highest, highest priority that we will be fixing this as soon as possible.
19:50I can assure you, from all of us at Thames Water, we are working night and day.
19:55Well, I think we need to have a debrief.
19:57I do.
19:57I do as well.
19:58Thank you, sir.
19:59Thank you for your...
20:01Thank you very much for the meeting.
20:04Shall we go outside?
20:06Yes.
20:07I think he just lied to us.
20:10Just straight up and down, took to our faces.
20:12Oh, no.
20:12He said he was misinformed.
20:14Princess Diane's equerry.
20:16I mean...
20:16What is that, by the way?
20:18I don't...
20:19I don't know.
20:19It helps when people lie.
20:21It's how you know they've got something to hide.
20:40I mean, it's ammonia we need to keep an eye out.
20:43Because that's going to read high right after they've dumped the sewage.
20:47Fuck me.
20:48It's...
20:49It is actually like one of your cases, isn't it?
20:52Not really, no.
20:53It's more real-time monitoring of the river.
20:57And the outflow pipes as well.
21:01So the question is...
21:02Is Burford acting alone?
21:06Because there's what?
21:08Seven?
21:09Seven.
21:09Seven works along the Windrush.
21:12So we need to know if Burford is an outlier, you know, single failing plant.
21:17Like a lone assassin, just killing everything that lives in the water.
21:22Or are they more like Burford?
21:24Well, I mean, I suppose I could order the...
21:26Order the telemetry and get it for all of them.
21:37Dear EIR team, it would be a great time if you could supply all the telemetry exchanges between
21:46the Control Centre and the works at Humboldt-Leach Church,
21:53Hambro, Whitney and...
21:55Norse Ciney, Professor Peter Hammond.
22:07I can't find a pulse.
22:13Is there nothing?
22:16That's weird.
22:23No, I can't feel anything.
22:25No.
22:26Somebody call for help.
22:27Get help.
22:27No.
22:28Can we get a doctor in here, please?
22:36What have you done to your finger?
22:38Oh, I don't know.
22:41I woke up this morning and it was like that.
22:43It feels a bit weird.
22:44Well, don't you think that Jala should take a look at that?
22:46I mean, she is a chemist, isn't she?
22:48I know she's a chemist.
22:49I live with her.
22:50Okay, so you know that they sent me all these data flows from the works at Whitney and at
22:55Church, Hambro.
22:56Yeah.
22:57But what I've done, I've converted the program that I built for the fetal alcohol kits.
23:07What happened there was that the mothers, they were being paid in wine, so most of their
23:12children had fetal alcohol syndrome.
23:16What I did was that I took thousands of photographs of these FAS kits.
23:23And so by showing the machine hundreds of these faces of these unborn children, we taught
23:29it to spot the features of fetal alcohol syndrome in the womb.
23:41So when the program sees it's in a scan, then it can tell the doctor straight away and
23:47then they can start helping the mother and the kid.
23:53Now, Burford does most of its heavy lifting during early morning, just before everyone
23:57goes to work.
23:58Right.
23:59And then again in the evening, when they come back home, so you can see the flows of treated
24:06effluent hitting the daily peaks and troughs.
24:09Now, that's when the penny dropped.
24:11The thing is, that is just like the contours on a baby's face.
24:19By showing the machine nine years of this flow data, I've taught it to recognize when the
24:26usual flows, they don't show up.
24:30When the everyday flows are missing, well, they're not treating the sewage.
24:36And if they're not treating the sewage, there's nowhere for it to go.
24:40Except?
24:41Into the river.
24:43Except into the river.
24:45Except into the river.
24:45Except into the river.
24:45Exceptento.
24:47Exceptento.
24:48Exceptento.
24:51Exceptento.
25:02Exceptento.
25:04Exceptento.
25:05Through his household.
25:06We've decided to transfer Heather to The Bristol Hospital for Children.
25:11It's one of the best in the country.
25:13They'll be able to look after her there.
25:16It's getting bigger, I think.
25:19Have you been in the river again?
25:20Yeah, yeah.
25:21Did you have any cuts?
25:24Yeah, I, uh...
25:25I pricked my finger on a thorn when I was setting up the camera.
25:28Before or after you went into the river?
25:30Before. Right.
25:34So if there's a pathogen in the water,
25:37you've given it direct entry into your bloodstream.
25:42Is that bad?
25:44It's bad, you muppet.
25:46You need antibiotics.
25:49You know, a lot of sewage has drugs in it,
25:51and if they mix with bacteria,
25:55then the bacteria becomes antibiotic-resistant,
25:59which means that the antibiotics might not work on you,
26:03so they might have to try different types of medication on you.
26:07Oh, God. Hold on.
26:13What's that? What are you doing?
26:15I'm just drawing on you.
26:18Why?
26:18Because if it gets bigger, then we will know.
26:22That looks worse now.
26:25So that's where she drew the marker,
26:27and that's how much bigger it's got in, like, two days.
26:30Bloody hell.
26:31And that is just from putting your hand in the river.
26:34Yeah, I'm an idiot.
26:35Well, we know that, but, I mean,
26:38if it's doing that to your hand,
26:40just think about what it's doing to all the creatures
26:42that live in the river.
26:43Exactly.
26:43What was it you wanted to show me?
26:45Oh, yeah, well, you know,
26:46I got all this data through from North Leech.
26:49You know, we went to the Wheat Sheaf there.
26:51Oh, yeah.
26:52That was overpriced for what it was.
26:53Well, I mean, you thought so, but anyway, look,
26:56they must have sent this by mistake,
26:59because I'm pretty sure they haven't read it.
27:01Why? Why do you say that?
27:02Because it says here that the works at North Leech,
27:05they haven't treated any sewage for three and a half months.
27:09So, so either, either the good people of North Leech
27:12have been holding it in for three and a half months, or...
27:15Now, I know they did not do that,
27:17because I have the log books,
27:20and North Leech is on Michael Lazarus' beat.
27:27I fucking hate my life.
27:38Sight flooded due to come failure.
27:43Sight flooded for the fifth day running.
27:45Storm tank high alarm sounding for nearly 48 hours now.
27:50Storm pump failure alarm sounding for nearly four days.
27:54All four biofilters not rotating.
27:57No flow coming into the works.
28:00Power surges have badly affected all equipment on site.
28:04Serious plant failure.
28:08Generator not running.
28:10Ran in to get the site going.
28:13Oh, fuck's sake.
28:15Of course.
28:15And then, come on, come on.
28:18You got to get the skit.
28:18We got to get the skit.
28:25Ghost packs completely full.
28:28Sight's still heavily flooded.
28:30I think sludge water out onto Stormland.
28:33Roadside flooding believed to have been caused by this.
28:38oh fuck off
28:42oh for fuck's sake
28:52yeah liam yeah listen mate i'm at north leach
28:56power's gone mate power's packed up the generator's gone
29:00mate it's gone we can't treat sewage without any power
29:04we're either backing up or we're dumping it straight into the river
29:09oh and liam mate there's sewage coming up from the ground
29:29thames's own data shows north leach hasn't treated any sewage for three and a half months
29:34yeah so look
29:38there's two works and they're a few miles of each other
29:42both rotting into the sludge both dumping illegally we've got to get this to the environment agency
29:48they've got prosecuting powers
29:49what do you mean
29:50well they don't have to show their evidence to the police these are crimes
29:53and they can prosecute privately
29:57what so they can just
29:58just take temps to court
30:00yes
30:01they're the sewage police
30:03wow
30:04uh
30:05can anyone else do that
30:07post office
30:08the post office that's unusual
30:11i can see that your swelling's gone down
30:14yeah yeah the antibiotics are kicking in
30:17thank god
30:18and it's about keeping us a little bit more local
30:23sorry i'm just going to fold this up actually
30:27we want to strip out as much unnecessary regulation as possible
30:33so under operator self-monitoring we're going to be asking the water companies
30:39to monitor their own environmental performance
30:43flagging any breaches to us as a priority
30:47i um
30:48sorry i i don't understand
30:50so um
30:51you you want water companies
30:53to monitor their own pollution
30:55yeah it's about shifting the burden of regulation onto the companies
31:01and asking the water companies if there's been a pollution to give us the details
31:07uh
31:08hang on
31:09hang on
31:10just just to be clear
31:13you want us
31:15to ask the water companies to tell us when they've dumped sewage
31:20it's about pivoting away from
31:24away from on-site inspections to a more
31:27desk-based approach
31:29yep
31:30it's it's sort of streamlining our process
31:33so you want us to stop
31:34visiting sewage works
31:36no no no no we'll still be doing on-site inspections
31:40yeah
31:40of course um provided that we give the company two weeks notice of our visit
31:45yeah but that's a problem that is a problem because
31:47well sorry again
31:48yeah um but if we give the water companies two weeks notice yeah they'll just clean up before
31:54we get there
31:54yeah i mean it's it it is an honor system so i d if the companies say that there hasn't
32:00been an incident i i don't think we should go looking for reasons to challenge that so
32:05what you're saying is regulate yourselves and then just let us know if you've committed any crimes
32:17yeah thanks so much okay to julia simpson area director environment agency dear julia
32:31i live in oxfordshire near the river windrush my neighbor professor peter hammond and i have been
32:38gathering evidence of sewage discharges into our river by thames water we'd like to bring what
32:44we've learned to the attention of the environment agency dear julia we'd like to invite you to
32:50meet some members of our group to discuss issues of sewage pollution dear julia we are going to take
32:56a trip down the river on foot and by boat looking at possible sources of sewage pollution would the
33:02environment agency be interested dear julia we are still waiting for a suitable point of contact
33:13dear ashley the department for the environment will provide you with a full response by the 8th of
33:19june 2018. she's got an mbe and a bloody big salmon why is she taking so long to get back
33:29to us
33:30doesn't she realize we're doing her job for her i don't know i might put in a complaint
33:41so
33:47so
33:48so
33:48so
33:48PHONE RINGS
34:18Hello? Mr Smith, it's Julia Simpson from the Environment Agency.
34:23I'm so sorry it's taken me so long to get back to you.
34:26Honestly, waiting for DEFRA, it is maddening.
34:29Well, we've found each other now.
34:31We wanted to ask about how the agency monitors sewage dumps into the river.
34:39Spills, yes.
34:41Well, as you probably know, we manage operator self-monitoring.
34:46Operator self-monitoring? What's that?
34:48Yes, it's for Thames Water to report any potential breaches.
34:52You mean it's Thames' job to tell you when they've dumped sewage?
34:58To report potential pollution incidents, yes.
35:02What if they don't report them?
35:03We would expect Thames to report 100% of pollution incidents.
35:07So, it's not even your responsibility to inspect the works?
35:15Trauma?
35:16Well, to see if they're working?
35:19No, absolutely.
35:21We inspect the treatment works, yes, of course we do.
35:24How often?
35:25Well, we would inspect perhaps once every few days,
35:29up to perhaps once every six months,
35:32depending on the inspection team's judgment.
35:35Ash, we're aware that there's been some discussion locally
35:38around water quality on the Windrush.
35:41And in fact, we've just completed a new survey,
35:44so I was thinking it would be a good idea for me to take up your invitation,
35:49come down to the village hall and to go over some of the results.
35:53So, the good news is that our testing shows that there's no evidence
35:59that the Windrush is seriously polluted,
36:02or that the quality of the water has declined.
36:05We do know that the river is more brown these days,
36:08but our evidence has shown that this brown colour
36:11has got nothing to do with sewage.
36:14Er...
36:16Sorry.
36:17We've spoken earlier on the telephone.
36:19I wonder if you could confirm something you told me then,
36:21that the agency inspects all the works along the Windrush
36:26between every two to three days and every six months.
36:29Yes, that's right.
36:31Professor Peter Hammond, and I'm also part of this Windrush group,
36:36a colleague of yours told me that actually
36:38you only inspect once every eight years.
36:43And also, I've just been...
36:44Listen, listen.
36:45I've been running your figures,
36:48and so you've only done about half of the inspections
36:53that you'd needed to have been doing.
36:55In fact, you've only been visiting the works
36:57once every 16 years.
37:01We also took a look at your water quality tests.
37:05And the thing is,
37:06they were all carried out upstream
37:09from all the major sewage works.
37:11So it's almost as if you've chosen
37:12the cleanest part of the river
37:14to conduct your tests.
37:17The river is actually devoid of anything in there.
37:21The fish and all the wildfire
37:24and everything that reads on from that,
37:26from your kingfishers to everything.
37:28You've absolutely ruined this place,
37:30and you should be bloody well ashamed of yourselves.
37:40You've destroyed the watercress beds as well.
37:43That used to be a source of industry years ago.
37:45Totally gone.
37:46We will be taking all your feedback into consideration.
37:50I will have to go away,
37:51and we will listen to your feedback.
37:56I promise you.
38:22Uh, is it Mr. Lazarus?
38:25My name's Ash Smith.
38:27This is my colleague, Professor Peter Hammond.
38:29We're doing some research on Thames Water.
38:32And, uh...
38:33Listen, it's all off the record.
38:35You're not disclosing the names of anyone we talked to.
38:38We wondered if you could spare ten minutes.
38:50People call me Mickey, first of all.
38:51Thank you very much for coming here.
38:52I know it's not easy, so...
38:54We appreciate you so much, I can't tell you.
38:55I'm not a grass, okay?
38:58So, I did grass on my mate, like, in year eight, back in the day,
39:01but this is different from grassing, right?
39:03This is like blowing the whistle.
39:04I told you I'm an ex-copper.
39:05Yeah.
39:06You've told me that as well.
39:06That's made me nervous.
39:07This is not grass.
39:08Grassing is like when you grass on your mates,
39:10and blowing the whistle...
39:11What's that?
39:12Whistle blowing is when you, like, grass on your boss.
39:14Right.
39:16We will start.
39:17Um, all right.
39:18Check this out.
39:21Most water companies get sold every ten years or so.
39:24JP Morgan, Morgan Stanley, Kuwait Sovereign Fund,
39:29Chinese banks, we've had them all, mate.
39:38So, um, Macquarie bought us in 2006.
39:41That's the, that's the Australian hedge fund.
39:44It's known as the millionaire's factory.
39:47Such are the reputed riches of many of Macquarie's key executives.
39:50It's a vampire kangaroo.
39:52That's it.
39:52And they've earned that name because they are bloodsuckers.
39:54Leading companies rely on Macquarie for advice, access to capital.
39:58The first thing they did was sell our offices
40:01and then rent them back to us.
40:03What?
40:04Wrong-uns.
40:05They make Del Boy look like a fucking amateur.
40:07Then they said that we had to get management clearance to buy pens.
40:12Right to the top to buy a biro.
40:15Not even a parker, not a fancy pen, just a normal pen.
40:18Piss take, all right?
40:19Now, let's say this.
40:20Right.
40:21A pipe's broken.
40:22What do you do?
40:23Normally, you take it out, you put a new one in.
40:25They would tell us to stick a collar around it.
40:28It's not going to hold.
40:29What's a collar?
40:30It's just like sticking plaster.
40:31It's not going to hold.
40:32It's a temporary fix.
40:33The pipe's still rotten, okay?
40:35It's going to go again.
40:36It's a box job.
40:37It's like Frankenstein.
40:38Why don't they want to do it properly?
40:40Why don't they want to spend money and seal it properly?
40:43They don't give up monkeys about the works.
40:45You know why?
40:46Because they're going to flip you.
40:47If they don't want to spend any money on it,
40:50how are they going to maintain your works?
40:52They don't give a shit.
40:53You know why?
40:54They're like dodgy house flippers.
40:56They're going to go in there, it's still rotting inside,
40:58and they flip it, they're out.
41:00That's why I banked with Macquarie.
41:03Macquarie, when they flogged us,
41:05they walked away with around 2.8 billion quid.
41:09It's scandalous.
41:12So, how do you know all this then, Mickey?
41:14I started working for Thames when I was 16.
41:16Right, on my second day, I joined the union.
41:20I get people ringing me up every day.
41:22Mickey, it's all falling apart.
41:24We can't keep it going.
41:26Pete, if you were there working there,
41:28you were an engineer, you know,
41:30and the pumps ain't working, you're at capacity,
41:32what's your best option?
41:33Well, the best option, obviously,
41:35is just to get rid of the sewage, I suppose.
41:38The only option is to press the button
41:42that flushes it all out.
41:44I'm not proud to admit that.
41:47And I feel guilty, you know?
41:49I see people swimming in these rivers
41:52and they're letting their kids swim in the rivers.
41:54What am I supposed to do?
41:54I know what goes in there.
41:56I'll put it in there.
41:58We're at tipping point here, fellas.
42:04So we have run the brain tests.
42:07Heather's brain has lost the ability
42:09to control her vital organs,
42:10and unfortunately, they are failing.
42:15I'm really very sorry,
42:18but I think it's time we consider
42:20turning off her ventilators.
42:21going through this?
42:35Oh, man.
42:41Go, kitty.
42:42Go, kitty.
42:44Go, kitty.
43:08Dear Professor Hammond,
43:10I'm a member of Citizens Against Southwest Water.
43:14We formed a year ago to fight the company's sewage dumping in our bit of Devon.
43:20One of our group was recently given these, which we thought you should see.
43:29A girl of eight may have been the first person in Britain to have contacted fatal E. coli poisoning from
43:37raw sewage.
43:38Ten other people, including four children, who all visited the beach on July the 28th,
43:45were also struck down by the same bacterial strain.
43:51Heather Preen died of E. coli.
44:03If you'd like, we could bring her over to you.
44:07There we go.
44:09There we go.
44:10Here.
44:11There we go.
44:13All right.
44:14There we go.
44:16All right.
44:17I'll just leave you together for a little while now, okay?
44:25All right, brother.
44:38You're all right.
44:42You're all right.
44:44You're all right.
44:56You're all right.
44:58You're home?
45:00All right.
45:02It's all right?
45:02There we go.
45:03Be careful okay?
45:05It's okay.
45:06We're fine.
45:07Come on.
45:07Yes.
45:41You're so sorry about getting in.
45:54All right, yeah.
46:09So you know how I taught the machine to look for the anomalies
46:14in Whitney and Church Hamburger?
46:16Yeah, right.
46:17Well, have you been free jazzing your numbers again?
46:20Well, it's actually a lot of hard work, you know.
46:22Oh, no, sorry.
46:23Just looking for the patterns and spotting the deviations.
46:26Yeah, right.
46:27And you know that...
46:28You do know that when the machine sees an abnormality,
46:32it can only mean one thing, that it's dumping sewage.
46:35Yes.
46:35OK, so in the nine years that I've dated for,
46:41these two works alone, Whitney and Church Hamburger,
46:45they've dumped sewage a thousand times.
46:51These aren't accidents, Ash.
46:54It's a policy.
46:58This is starting to look like organised crime.
47:11Oh, fuck.
47:14No, this isn't right.
47:16That's shit.
47:19No, this ain't right.
47:20That's pure sewage.
47:23You say you've got insufficient evidence,
47:25but we keep giving you the evidence.
47:27All we ever do is give you the evidence.
47:29If you don't know what caused the infection,
47:31then you need to shut down the beach.
47:33That's not gonna happen.
47:33I wonder if we should be calling it an outbreak.
47:36I feel like the kind of term that could alarm people.
47:38We are conducting an investigation under section 108
47:41of the environmental law.
47:43Close the beach before this happens to somebody else.
47:46With their kids, with fishing nets,
47:48sitting amongst turds.
47:50Reuben!
47:52Come on.
47:54Reuben!
47:56We need another whistleblower.
47:58Now, we may never-
48:24You're not getting fired.
48:26You're not attacking us when you ever calling it a tale
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