- 1 day ago
Dirty.Business.2026.S01E02
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00:16they're allowed to dump untreated sewage but that can't be right there's something weird
00:23about this think that's poo of course it's not poo wash it up scrubby
00:28heather's brain has lost the ability to control her vital organs i think it's time we consider
00:33turning off her ventilators we've got to get this to the environment agency they're the sewage police
00:37we want to strip out as much unnecessary regulation as possible they make del boy like a
00:44amateur when the everyday flows are missing they're not treating the sewage and if they're
00:49not treating the sewage there's nowhere for it to go except into the river regulate yourselves
00:54and then just let us know if you've committed any crimes they've dumped sewage a thousand times
01:01these aren't accidents it's a policy this is starting to look like organized crime
01:10it's only now that it's coming to light thank goodness
01:13for the people's regulator peter have and thank you thank goodness for ash
01:17thank goodness for the public who are standing up and showing you what's really going on
01:30hi amy christophers citizens against southwest water when peter decoded these these spreadsheets
01:39and we realized that the uh company had been dumping sewage into our river for years
01:49me and the machines we are now investigating hundreds hundreds of these sewage works using
01:59the data from each one of them
02:02you know they've got to go down to um a whitstable this weekend what saturday yeah yeah yeah
02:11they've got these two people who've been working at the agency says that the
02:15southern water um solicitors have been threatening them
02:20oh you know about charles and camilla charles and camilla were coming down for the
02:25whitstable oyster festival right when they tested them they were so full of
02:32shit they had to give them oysters imported from france all over the local news whitstable's oysters
02:38under threat from sewage leaks sewage spills threaten to wipe out whitstable's oyster farmers people were
02:44very fucked up
02:48look at the amount of effluent so southern water you're not releasing sewage into the sea
02:57and by then the environment agency had no choice they had to launch an investigation
03:02made a mistake of putting us in charge we're the ones in the trenches we take things seriously there are
03:07still a few of us left but we had no clue what we were letting ourselves in for do we
03:11all right
03:12no what you don't pull my back out it's morning hello hello it's john bull from the environment
03:20agency we've got an appointment tell them i'm waving tell them i'm waving bigger go on go on right jump
03:29up and down all right that's it i'm not honestly i can't stand up for too long today we know
03:33you're in
03:34here we are not leaving we have an appointment it's now cheese mayo spring onion almost looks like one
03:41word then press one to speak to no one press two to speak to no one to speak to no
03:49one press three
03:52to give up all hope same bollocks every works with glenn chichester millbrook slow hill fawnham
04:00and so many times just refusing us entry sometimes just snatch the load books right out of our hands
04:06or just tell us the fuck off when you get chicken from a supermarket it's got the plastic covering
04:11on right yeah lift that off leave it for a few minutes because it automatically smells of fish
04:17and people get scared think they get food poisoning that's when they throw it away but if you leave it
04:22for a bit let the air come out right it just smells of chicken then you can cook it oh
04:27what hiya miss humphries yeah yeah well we've got one up but we've made an appointment oh sorry is
04:36that you guys yeah yeah yeah we've been here somewhere else we've been buzzing
04:40we have a 9 15. come on oh 9 15. yes nine as opposed to uh 3 15. yeah come
04:48on can we just get in
04:49there please can you buzz us in he's got a bad back all right come on oh my god what
04:54is your buzzer
04:55broken no you won't say long uh i wouldn't say long yeah there's two really nice stalls you can sit
05:06on
05:08so poppy can i just ask these are the engineers log books right yeah i think they go back like
05:1410 years so how how much do you read um and we've got enough to be getting home with all
05:20right
05:20well we'll give you a shout if we need you is that all right thank you good great do you
05:24want me to go
05:26um storm town full yeah storm sun go will flow they've had to triple reset
05:33you've got nothing there right what on the status report yeah but on these days
05:36with this 12 as well that's mr paul david marwood southern water oh good to meet you nice to meet
05:42you alex nice to meet i am gonna have to ask you to hand back these log books please and
05:47they are
05:47proprietary material sorry i don't these books they are the property of southern water the engineer
05:55log books yeah you have gained access to them unlawfully uh no i'm asking you to hand them
05:59back unlawfully these are the property of southern water you gaining access to them is illegal if you
06:05just hand it over i'm sorry look sorry what we're doing not want to see me mr marwood we are
06:11conducting
06:11an investigation under section 108 of the environmental we are well within all right
06:19poppy put those down we haven't finished with it mr marwood you are obstructing our investigation
06:23under section 108 of the environmental act john what you're doing is unlawful please leave
06:30let's just go let's just go
06:34we'll be back mr marwood sandwiches
06:43criminal offence
06:46you know it took us seven years seven years we need something in the end southern water has been
06:55sentenced to pay a record 90 million pound fine after pleading guilty they pled guilty to six thousand
07:01nine hundred and seventy one crimes composited into 51 counts first day each dump is punishable by five
07:09years in prison but instead the judge just fined them 90 million cost of doing business they dump
07:16seven thousand four hundred olympic swimming pools of raw shite with the knowledge of the board they
07:22were making so much money these fines weren't touching the sides but this time they were committed to a
07:28culture change which is why toby willison came in who's toby willison oh you don't know about toby willison
07:38so toby was number two in the environment agency under sir james but then southern poached him a year
07:45before they were sentenced they told the judge that he was going to run a clean-up operation within
07:49the company he saw that as a mitigating factor reducing the fine from 120 million to 90 million
07:57sorry you hire the the the second most senior person at the regulator who is actually prosecuting
08:04you and you get a 30 million pound discount on your fine but that isn't i mean it's just i
08:11mean that
08:11that's corruption isn't it well we can see how it might have the appearance of corruption but it
08:18wasn't you see there's a revolving door people leave the agency and go and work for the companies
08:24they're regulating all the time it's just the way the industry works when the agency brought the case
08:30against southern was this toby willison in charge what we know he was acting chief exec at some point
08:36was he deciding who you guys were going to prosecute we didn't prosecute any water company execs we never
08:45have you and i can probably remember as kids swimming in the sea uh and being surrounded by uh floating
08:56fecal fecal material i've certainly experienced that now not not as kids you look at the quality of our
09:03out of our bathing waters now and it is unrecognizable from uh from 20 25 years ago that is a
09:09direct
09:10result of the massive amount of uh investment the water companies have put into um you know the networks
09:18remarkable well i don't believe any of that well james murray joins us now you're not going to believe
09:22this one toby willison yeah what about him you know the lobby group funded by the water companies yeah
09:30willison has been on their board since 2019 you mean after he went to southern water no no no no
09:36no no
09:36no he's been on the board of british water while he was working for the agency that means that the
09:41number two and the environment agency is at a side hustle working for the water companies
09:49but water quality is now better than any time since the industrial revolution thanks to
09:55tougher regulations by the environment so this is toby willison's boss is it yeah he's at the very
10:01very top liz truss was the environment minister and she made him head of the environment agency i don't
10:07know why she chose him she seems to think the environment agency is part of the deep state
10:14what hesitate to go after water companies who cause serious pollution but he's at the very top
10:20isn't it he's the one we need to get to he's our man
10:32the agency said that she could have contracted e coli from dog poo the little girl who died
10:38hmm i've been looking for another case where like dog feces has triggered an e coli and you can't
10:45find one outright no no there aren't any hi is that julie hi this is chris hines
10:56yes i work for an organization called surfers against sewage listen julie i'm down at the beach
11:03at dawlish warren i think we really need to speak no i've always been a surfer i moved to cornwall
11:11when
11:11i was 19 lived in a caravan just so i could surf every day but everyone was getting sick all
11:17the
11:17time there was this one day i came up under this huge wave i found a sanitary towel stuck to
11:23the back
11:23of my head and a turd lodged between my chest and the board i thought this has got to stop
11:29so we founded
11:30surfers against sewage in my caravan and it was not long after that that we all went to parliament in
11:36our
11:36wetsuits we were trying to get the message out about clean water and we didn't do a good enough
11:41job i picked dawlish because it had a blue flag of course you did because the blue flag is the
11:48gold standard for water quality it's meant to mean that the water's clean the council they've set up
11:55an investigation team if it finds that sewage killed heather it's going to be a calamity for
12:00business here my guess is they're going to be looking for any explanation so long as it's not
12:05sewage thanks all for being here at this um startup meeting for the outbreak investigation team sorry i
12:13i wonder if we should be calling it an outbreak feels like the kind of term that could alarm people
12:19i think cluster might be better messaging of course the quality of the bathing water at dawlish is
12:25consistently high that's a really good point i mean that will be reflected in the report
12:29we know there have been some complaints about sewage on the beaches uh thanks sarah that's right
12:35we were contacted by members of the public about this and we did send inspectors out
12:40in the event there'd been just a single spill on july 24th a full four days before the preens visited
12:47the beach so it's very unlikely that the spill could have had an impact and we know that although the
12:52preens went to the beach on several occasions heather never swam in the water so with sewage looking
12:59unlikely as a culprit we're focusing on fast food and dog feces mr and mrs preen we were so sorry
13:09to
13:09hear about heather yeah it must be such a difficult time but we just need to ask you a few
13:16questions
13:17could i ask you about the fast food your family's been eating since you got to dawlish do you want
13:22to
13:22know what we had to eat any takeaways burgers no we ate in the shadow chicken shops chippies any fast
13:29food at all no we didn't have any burgers we didn't have any fast food to be honest we're on
13:34a bit of a
13:34budget so when you went to the beach how much dog poo did you see no we didn't see any
13:40dog drop
13:40into it we saw human sewage so why do you want to know about dog poo because if heather had
13:45stepped
13:45in something she'd have told us we we have to look into every possible source
13:53so if you don't know what caused the infection then you need to shut down the beach don't you
13:59because the children could get this and my daughter's dead so you need to shut it down
14:04that's not going to happen after the investigation there's going to be an inquest
14:10i can get you a lawyer
14:14there was an unplanned negligible spill on the 24th four days before the preens visited the beach
14:21the dawlish coast is a high dispersal area the winds and currents are sufficiently strong
14:26that any sewage would have been dispersed long before the preens visited the beach
14:31e coli o157 is not routinely found in sewage and it's rare in water the sea breaks down the bacteria
14:39so there's no record of an e coli o157 infection from sea bathing in the uk what kind of health
14:46risk
14:47would sewage on a footpath present it's not for the environment agency to comment on a health risk
14:55you don't have a view about whether sewage is a health risk
14:59it's not within the remit or the expertise of the environment agency to comment on a public health risk
15:11we walked along the coastal path every day
15:15there was a discharge coming out from the pipe and it made a puddle you see
15:23how big was the puddle
15:26i don't know three feet maybe
15:29and it was spilling out onto the beach
15:34it smelled like feces and
15:38and i could see there was little bits of pink toilet paper in it
15:45so you walked around it no we we jumped over it
15:51except um
15:55heather didn't manage to clear it and then
16:01she landed in in the puddle that was coming from the pipe yeah you couldn't stop her
16:09what the what what didn't stop her we didn't know
16:19you say you saw the the puddle every day yeah you're aware that the environment agency has been
16:27unable to confirm any subsequent spills but there was only one confirmed report of a spill during your
16:32holiday why do you think you were the only one who saw the puddle i don't know
16:41i saw it is it possible that you've confused things in your memory no i saw it we all saw
16:48it didn't we
16:52it was a puddle and a little stream of poo
16:58in the days running up to the preen's visit the environment agency received at least 14 complaints
17:06about sewage on the beach in the week before heather preen fell ill i treated two children with febrile
17:14gastroenteritis the children had been swimming at the town beach and then found themselves immersed
17:21in raw sewage i reported it but had nothing more in the days after the preen's visit
17:29dawlish was inundated with feces big influxes of sewage debris were turning up on the beach
17:36our cleaners log the number of sanitary towels southwest water pays contractors to clean up the
17:43sewage by hand resort staff were cleaning away sewage as a matter of urgency
17:51at least six other children were infected with the ecoli virus after being at the beach that day
18:00sophie smith was seven months old
18:04back home in walsall she was diagnosed with an e coli 0157 infection
18:1111 year old jane duncan was hospitalized with an e coli 0157 infection
18:20she bled through her anus 50 times in the first few days and asked her parents if she was going
18:25to die
18:28ashley ruby and dylan hamlin along with their mum claire were all infected
18:35claire drove her son dylan to hospital after they both began bleeding from their backsides
18:43doctors wouldn't admit claire at first so she cleared up her own blood and vomit from the toilets
18:51later dylan's sisters ashley and ruby were also admitted
19:05there's no cure for e coli they keep you on a drip and hope for the best
19:14dylan screaming was so frightening his dad thought everyone was going to die
19:21e coli 0157 is a pathogen that thrives in sewage it can survive in water for up to 91 days
19:30swimming in water infected with e coli has been identified as the cause of multiple outbreaks
19:38we tested the waters around dawlish of the 45 samples taken only two came back positive for
19:45e coli 0157 the infected families were all on a part of the beach where dogs were allowed
19:51they could all have crisscrossed the site of an infected dog faeces
19:56none of us were on the same part of the beach we never saw any dog poo
20:01this map doesn't make any sense families went on the same part of the beach no one saw any dog
20:09faeces and there's no good evidence of transmission from dogs anywhere
20:15southwest water and the environment agency present this improbable theory whilst choosing to ignore
20:22repeated substantial sewage pollution the agency did carry out tests on the seawater
20:29but the testing took place on the 27th of august
20:35a full month after the infected families had visited the beach
20:46cunts
20:49fucking cunts
20:50my mum
20:53you're twisted haven't you
20:54i know this is
20:59i've been out of the down haven't i
21:01you've not been out of the down
21:03i think i can ask henry if i can do it again
21:04no no what are you on about you've done it you you stuck up for her
21:12you stuck up for this family
21:19we saw them sanitary towels you
21:23we saw the toilet roll we
21:28didn't we
21:32and we let our boundaries go back home
21:37not here
21:37not here
21:38not here
21:53at first they said it was something we had to eat but it wasn't so then they came up with
21:59dog poo
22:02but how could all of our kids walk through the same bit of poo without remembering
22:09i would know if my child had touched poo
22:16the one thing all our kids did do was go into the water we saw the toilet roll
22:25we saw the sanitary towels you can't tell us we didn't see it because we did we saw it
22:36i know now we should have turned away from that beach
22:42i know that
22:45heather's dad knows that
22:50we will live with that we chose dolish because of the blue flag and we trusted it
22:58the gold standard of water quality
23:03we didn't know it was a lie
23:11no one should have died the way my heather died
23:19she was poisoned
23:22and the anti-sickness tablets they gave her meant her little body couldn't get rid of it
23:29she was liquidized from the inside
23:38we went on holiday a family of four and we've come back a family of three
23:54and we don't want any money don't worry
23:57we don't want your money so
24:00we just we want something to change
24:06we don't want another family to go to the beach and come back with one less child
24:15and you're still dumping sewage
24:18and you
24:21you're the environment agency you're supposed to look after us and you are sat here
24:28in this court and you're swapping notes with southwest water why
24:33and it took you it took him one month
24:35to go looking for the e coli that killed my daughter
24:40why would you do that
24:44what is this
24:49i i would not wish
24:52what has happened to us on my worst enemy
24:57i wouldn't wish it on your kids
25:02so please
25:06close the beach please
25:12before this happens to somebody else please
25:27following an inquisition taken for our sovereign lady the queen
25:33touching on the death of heather amy preen
25:39the cause of death was e coli poisoning
25:45the deceased probably contracted e coli whilst visiting the beach
25:50at dawlish warren on the 24th of july
25:55along with other children
25:57who survived
26:01i recommend that consideration be given to a notice
26:06warning the public of sewage discharges
26:09and that an ultraviolet treatment should be added to the sewage works at dawlish
26:14consideration should be given to greater enforcement of the dogs on the beach ban
26:39june 2019 sir james bevan environment agency
26:44june 2019 sir james bevan environment agency
26:49involving the agency i did not receive any acknowledgement
26:54yes sir james bevan
26:56this is ash smith wind rush against sewage pollution
26:59we sent an email we sent a lot of emails
27:02ash what
27:04ash yes i'll hold
27:05i want a bloody phone
27:06they want us to come in
27:14fucking hell
27:16early of the beast
27:17very nice to meet you hello there
27:25nice to hunt please do sit down
27:27sir james is on the on the on the premises i
27:30um he's i think he's at a meeting he's been called out to an instant i was hoping he might
27:35be
27:36even present in the meeting not this kind of meeting though he's i just wanted to
27:40start with um a few questions about integrity because i see that the agency's former director of
27:47operations joined the board of british water while he was working for the agency which means that
27:53your coo was
27:56moonlighting for the water companies while he was regulating them so what do we
28:01what do we call that well i think moonlighting is a pretty strong word um
28:05definition what i would say is that um toby willison no longer works for the agency
28:10that's the first point and when he uh how does that affect when he was here though
28:16the fact that he's not i'm coming on to that
28:18well his declarations with all due respect his declarations of interest were noted at the time
28:23and any risks at all and we do take these things very seriously were appropriately managed
28:28yes but then mr willison was hired by a water company as it stood trial on 51 counts of sewage
28:35dumping how is that not a case of conflict of interest ah well very clear rules which was what
28:42i was going to say very clear clear rules around conflict of interest were put in place as soon as
28:48mr willison decided to take up his new job so he stepped out of any relevant discussions um
28:54we we did everything we could the judge ruled that all criminal activity in that case was
29:00masterminded from the top of the company so was mr willison involved in the decision not to prosecute
29:05southern executives was it we i mean we can't comment on that no we can't comment yeah we don't talk
29:12about internal meetings well how many water company executives has the agency prosecuted
29:19well criminal prosecution's quite a high bar that's it if we had evidence that the offense was serious
29:28enough we wouldn't hesitate to prosecute but there is no substantiated we've just given you evidence
29:33but it's not substantiated a board sanctioned plan for seven years of continuous dumping was not enough
29:41evidence thanks so much i've got to be in touch thank you thank you guys thank you so much thanks
29:50so
29:50much oh yeah i hope that goes well
30:05i'm gonna get another one
30:09you're gonna have another flake 99 eileen thinks i've got an obsessive streak well she's not wrong is she
30:23what the hell was that or did you think they'd be more grateful for our disclosures about revolving
30:30doors they really think that that was all right working for both of them at the same time
30:34and i think you're taking it personally i am you know i mean for me it's an occupational hazard
30:38i feel like i've been beaten up that's how i feel and i've never been beaten up we're getting
30:44somewhere we're making a difference we're clearly up against something bigger
31:03so
31:04so
31:50All right.
32:11All right, so you know, she's not going to be back from football till about seven, so just tell her
32:18to put that in the micro.
32:23You look nice.
32:26What is it?
32:32Um, you know, um, Tony's got that flat down the Arlander Road.
32:39He's not using.
32:40I mean, well, um, he said that I can stop there for a bit if I want, you know, just,
32:45just while I do the Tesco job, right?
32:52Yeah, er, good idea.
32:57It might be better, mightn't it?
32:59Yeah.
33:00Yeah.
33:05I'm going to be late, so.
33:06Yeah.
33:11All right.
33:18All right?
33:19Yeah.
33:28See ya.
33:28See ya.
33:45All right, Dad?
33:46You all right, Dad?
33:48I've got your pizza in here, if you want it.
33:49I'm not hungry.
33:53I've got a project, so I might just...
33:56All right, yeah.
33:57We'll have it later, shall we?
33:58Yeah.
33:59If we get hungry.
34:01All right.
34:13Do you want anything, Dad?
34:18Why?
34:19Can I have nothing special?
34:26Are you all right, Dad?
34:28Mm-hmm.
34:28God, look at you.
34:31What's going on, Mum?
34:58Watch the video.
35:00No, it's really not as bad as you think it is.
35:04No, it's not.
35:05There it is.
35:06Is there sound on this?
35:08Oh, no sound.
35:09So there it is, as you can see.
35:11Oh, no.
35:12Yeah, let's click for it.
35:16Yeah.
35:17Yeah.
35:18We actually think it's agricultural runoff.
35:22Yeah, actually.
35:23Not from farms.
35:24Mm-hmm.
35:25It's almost certainly farm runoff.
35:39Mm-hmm.
35:40The farms, and that is what has led to this overspill.
35:46That's really nice.
35:47I love that as well.
35:48That was very good.
35:49So though there have been storm-activated overspill, the discoloration of the water is because of agricultural runoff.
35:58Exactly, yeah.
35:59We are sorry about this.
36:02And we will do everything in our power to improve the situation.
36:08But some of it is not our fault.
36:10Well, I think if we can just own it.
36:11It is not our fault.
36:12Yeah, exactly.
36:12I think we just own it.
36:14It's farmer's fault.
36:15I can use the hands, and I think that helps the audience to feel like I'm one of them.
36:21Yeah.
36:21You very much do fit in as well with one of them.
36:24You know, you're almost one of them in many ways.
36:28Yes.
36:28I thought high-vis, a pair of those wraparound goggles that kind of skiers wear.
36:33You've got those slitty, yeah.
36:33And a hard hat.
36:35I hear your frustration.
36:37I really do.
36:38Splashed it.
36:39I thought it was amazing.
36:40So you know we've been getting a lot of these sickness reports coming in from the southwest.
36:45They've asked us if we wanted to go to a meeting down there.
36:48It's kind of a national thing.
36:50There's going to be water company bosses there.
36:52And I think we should go, shouldn't we?
36:55We've done a huge amount of research at the UK Council of Water on levels of public trust in the
37:01water industry.
37:01And what we've found generally is that levels of public trust are actually pretty high.
37:07No, no, well, you might laugh, but...
37:10Guy, I actually, I do get it.
37:12There's been a lot of pain.
37:14There's been a lot of frustration.
37:15We have the only bathing status river in this country.
37:18And we have 2,000 people there in the summer with their kids, with fishing nets, sitting amongst turds.
37:25We're all passionate about the environment.
37:28We're passionate about water quality.
37:30It's the driving force behind what we do.
37:32No.
37:32Can you answer why, then?
37:34My son's been so ill from 2022 after a day on the beach and then contracted Hepatitis A.
37:41That is the week before we went on our holiday.
37:47That's the week after in hospital.
37:50That's the week later when he's starting to get jaundice and he's starting to get bilirubin.
37:55And that, that's from something called cholestasis, which affects your gallbladder.
38:00He itched like crazy.
38:03These scars are still around.
38:05He can't stand without them hurting.
38:07Through school, I missed about properly three, four months.
38:12And even when I was at school, I was, like, tired.
38:15I was dropping to sleep.
38:17I couldn't remember half the stuff I learned.
38:19And it took a lot, a long time to sort of build back up a sort of friendship group.
38:26And it also led to, like, a lot of bullying.
38:29People saying, oh, you went in the water, all this dirty water, a human poo in it and stuff like
38:34that.
38:34But, um, I used to do a lot of farming, helping my dad.
38:38It just wipes you out.
38:39You've got no energy.
38:40You can't do anything.
38:41You just, you just had to stop.
38:44Every feedback that you give us is, you know, really, really important to us.
38:48I didn't know at the time, but Surfers Against Sewage explained that there was 342 hours of raw sewage
38:55that was released into the beach that I was swimming on.
38:58This particular strep bacteria entered my bloodstream and started growing on my heart valve.
39:03So I had to have a heart replacement.
39:05I was in hospital for six weeks.
39:07I ended up having open heart surgery.
39:10The health and well-being of our customers is at the forefront of what we do.
39:14And hearing stories like this is incredibly important to us.
39:17If I was even off, my story was really replied to.
39:20Going forwards, we can reflect on them going forwards.
39:22You've had to say, now listen to someone who's worked in the water industry for 40 years of his life.
39:28Prior to privatisation, if the infrastructure needed upgrading, it got it.
39:33If it needed bits of plant to be replaced, it got it.
39:35It was run like a military operation.
39:38Macquarie's come along.
39:40God help us.
39:42Assets stripped it.
39:43Sold land.
39:44Sold pumping stations.
39:46Built blocks of flats onto it.
39:48And decimated our infrastructure.
39:49This falls back to the government to re-nationalise this industry.
39:55ASAP.
39:59Get rid of the people who have assets stripped it.
40:03Stripped it of millions of pounds.
40:05All your profits, all your bonuses.
40:07Keir Starmer.
40:08Steve Reed, the invisible man.
40:10Do your job and re-nationalise the water industry.
40:13Well, well.
40:23Mistakes are made.
40:24But I would say this, and I'd happily go on the record.
40:27I would drink water out of any tap in the United Kingdom.
40:32Sorry.
40:32Would you come to Brixham and have a glass of our water?
40:35Last year in May, we had an outbreak of cryptosporidium, as Susan Davies knows.
40:41It's obviously a privilege and a huge responsibility to run a water company.
40:49And it's one that I take very, very seriously.
40:52I was poisoned by cryptosporidium in the water.
40:55I was ill for such a very long time.
40:57Six months or more.
40:58My body was attacking itself.
41:00My immune system was attacking itself.
41:01My injuries are life-changing.
41:03What we are committed to is improving step by step.
41:06And things do go wrong.
41:08Things go wrong.
41:09I put my hands up.
41:10Could you please explain to us why you got a 58% pay rise?
41:15I don't actually set my pay.
41:19I don't actually.
41:20It's not down to me how much I'm paid.
41:23The amount you're talking about will actually be a cost of living increase.
41:28Yeah, yeah.
41:29You earn 860 grand a year?
41:32We don't have a choice in our water provider.
41:34I come from Henley.
41:36We're in the Thames region.
41:38I know Ash and Peter well.
41:39How have we arrived in a situation where a privatised water industry is scamming the public,
41:46is taking off enormous profits and dividends for shareholders, paying huge bonuses to executives,
41:51and our children are getting vomiting and diarrhoea from doing what should come naturally?
41:56We do not trust you.
41:57Not one water company executive has ever been prosecuted and has served prison time, quite honestly, which they should.
42:12There you go.
42:13I'm going to see them.
42:14Oh, God.
42:15Oh, oh.
42:16Sorry, sorry, sorry.
42:19Yeah, hello.
42:20Pete, Pete, listen to me.
42:21Mickey?
42:21Yeah?
42:22I haven't got much time, all right?
42:23River Ray outside Swindon.
42:25A sewage maze exploded.
42:28It's a crime scene, and you've got to get down there right now before they clear it up.
42:31And, Pete, listen, thank you for a 21-carat key, sir.
42:35Yeah, so are you, Mickey.
43:03The river's gone, Nash.
43:05I mean, that's, and it's not coming back.
43:20How many do you reckon?
43:23Well, killed.
43:24Mm-hmm.
43:26Hundreds, thousands, thousands of babies, definitely.
43:31Mm-hmm.
43:35What?
43:36Ash, I'm scared that we're running out of time.
43:42What do you mean by that?
43:43That we're running out of time to make a difference.
43:48What are you talking about?
43:49Look at this.
43:50Look at this we've got.
43:50This is, this is the best stuff to have.
43:52But nothing's going to happen, is it, Ash?
43:55What do you mean?
43:56Thames Water, they're going to make a statement saying that the environment is their number
44:02one priority and the agency, they're just going to launch an investigation that we'll never
44:09hear about again.
44:10And they're, well, they're acting as though we don't exist.
44:15So what are you saying?
44:18I, I don't know how long we've got.
44:24We're not going to make a difference.
44:25There's no time left to make a difference.
44:28What are you talking about?
44:29Look at, look at this we just shot.
44:33But it doesn't matter.
44:34This is not the time to pack it in.
44:36But it doesn't matter what we show them.
44:38It doesn't matter.
44:39I mean, we could show them dead bodies floating down the river.
44:42They still wouldn't do anything about it, would they?
44:44Right.
44:45We just go back.
44:46You go and watch some bloody jazz.
44:49When you think you're, when you think you're beaten, you don't give in.
44:52We're going to the right channels.
44:54We're doing the right thing.
44:55And nothing's coming back.
44:56And nothing's come back for years.
44:59What do you want to do?
45:02It's exhausting.
45:03We get nothing back.
45:05I'm not stopping.
45:08I can't.
45:12God.
45:19Yeah, hello.
45:20Yeah, no.
45:21Yeah, we're on a vapor.
45:40May 2020.
45:42Subject, Environment Agency complicit in lawbreaking.
45:45Dear Sir James, over the past two years, Professor Peter Hammond and I have been documenting chronic
45:50offending by Thames water.
45:53Thames have been using our river as a cheap way to carry raw sewage out to sea and making
45:58vast profits doing so.
46:00The Environment Agency has been turning a blind eye and misrepresenting facts to the public.
46:26Peter, Peter, it's the middle of the night.
46:30What are you doing?
46:33What are you doing?
46:34I was worried.
46:36I couldn't sleep.
46:38Worried about what?
46:43About all the things that live in the river.
46:51You didn't put your hands in it, did you?
46:55No.
46:57Okay.
47:01There's nothing you can do now.
47:04I know.
47:06I know.
47:07Okay.
47:10So, shall we go back to bed?
47:14Yeah.
47:15Yeah.
47:17Yeah.
47:37Okay.
47:41Yeah.
47:56I know.
47:57I know.
47:57I know.
47:58I-I love you.
47:59I-I love you.
48:02I know you.
48:02I-I love you.
48:03I-I love you.
48:05Baby.
48:06Come on.
48:28We have the best quality water since the Industrial Revolution.
48:32The water's turned brown.
48:33From today, we are ending on-site inspections for CATS 3 and 4.
48:38What exactly do you want us to do?
48:42Reuben!
48:43Reuben!
48:45We need another whistleblower.
48:47The regulation isn't real.
48:48The government wants us to look like a regulator, but they won't let us do our job.
48:52You have a duty not to disclose confidential information to anyone not authorized to receive
48:59it!
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