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00:17They're allowed to dump untreated sewage, but that can't be right.
00:22There's something weird about this.
00:24Think that's poo?
00:25Of course, it's not poo.
00:27Wash it up, scrubby.
00:28Heather's brain has lost the ability to control her vital organs.
00:32I think it's time we consider turning off her ventilators.
00:34We've got to get this to the Environment Agency.
00:36They're the sewage police.
00:37We want to strip out as much unnecessary regulation as possible.
00:43They make Del Boy do like a fucking amateur.
00:45When the everyday flows are missing, they're not treating the sewage.
00:49And if they're not treating the sewage, there's nowhere for it to go.
00:52Except into the river.
00:53Regulate yourselves and then just let us know if you've committed any crimes.
00:58They've dumped sewage a thousand times.
01:01These aren't accidents.
01:03It's a policy.
01:04This is starting to look like organized crime.
01:07Fuck!
01:10It's only now that it's coming to light.
01:12Thank goodness for the people's regulator, Peter Hamm.
01:15And thank you.
01:16Thank goodness for Ash.
01:17Thank goodness for the public who are standing up and showing you what's really going on around the world.
01:29Hi, Amy Christophers, Citizens Against Southwest Water.
01:36When Peter decoded these spreadsheets, we realized that the 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 the data from each one
02:00of them.
02:02You know they've got to go down to Whitstable this weekend.
02:07What, Saturday?
02:08Yeah, yeah, yeah.
02:11They've got these two people who've been working at the agency.
02:13It says that the Southern Water solicitors have been threatening them.
02:20What do you know about Charles and Camilla?
02:23Charles and Camilla were coming down for the Whitstable Oyster Festival, right?
02:29But when they tested them, they were so full of shit, they had to give them oysters imported from France.
02:35All over the local news.
02:37Whitstable's oysters under threat from sewage leaks.
02:40Sewage spills threaten to wipe out Whitstable's oyster farmers.
02:43People were very fucked off.
02:48Look at the amount of effluent.
02:53So, Southern Water, you're not releasing sewage into the sea.
02:57By then, the Environment Agency had no choice.
03:00They had to launch an investigation.
03:02Made a mistake of putting us in charge.
03:04We're the ones in the trenches.
03:06We take things seriously.
03:07There are still a few of us left.
03:08But we had no clue what we were letting ourselves in for, did we?
03:12All right.
03:12No.
03:13What have you done?
03:14Pull my back out this morning.
03:16Hello?
03:19Hello, it's John Bull from the Environment Agency.
03:21Have you got an appointment?
03:22Tell them I'm waving.
03:24Tell them I'm waving.
03:24Tell them I'm waving.
03:27Bega, go on.
03:28Go on, right.
03:28Jump up and down.
03:29All right, that's it.
03:30I'm not...
03:30Honestly, I can't stand up for too long today.
03:33Sit down, mate.
03:33We know you're in there.
03:34We are not leaving.
03:36We have an appointment.
03:36It's now...
03:38Cheese mayo spring onion.
03:40Almost looks like one word, then.
03:44Press one.
03:45To speak to no one.
03:47Press two.
03:47To speak to no one.
03:49To speak to no one.
03:50Press three.
03:52To give up all hope.
03:54Same bollocks every works we went.
03:56Chichester.
03:57Millbrook.
03:58Slow Hill.
03:58Fulham.
04:00So many times just refusing us entry.
04:03Sometimes just snatch the log books right out of our hands.
04:06Or just tell us to fuck off.
04:08When you get chicken from a supermarket, it's got the plastic covering on, right?
04:12Yeah.
04:13Lift that off, leave it for a few minutes because it automatically smells of fish.
04:17And people get scared, think they're going to get food poisoning.
04:20That's when they throw it away.
04:21But if you leave it for a bit, let the air come out, right?
04:24I don't know.
04:24It just smells of chicken.
04:25Then you can cook it.
04:27Oh.
04:27What?
04:29Hiya.
04:30Miss Humphries?
04:31Yeah?
04:32Yeah, yeah.
04:33Well...
04:34We've made an appointment.
04:35Oh, sorry.
04:36Is that you guys?
04:37Yeah.
04:37Yeah, we've been here somewhere else.
04:39We've been buzzing.
04:39Oh.
04:4011.915.
04:41Come on.
04:42Oh, 9.15.
04:43Yes, 9.
04:44As opposed to...
04:46Er...
04:473.15.
04:47Yeah.
04:48Right.
04:48Can we just get in there, please?
04:49Can you buzz us in?
04:50He's got a bad back.
04:51Alright.
04:51Come on.
04:52Oh, my God.
04:54What?
04:54Is your buzzer broken?
04:56No.
04:57Have you worked here long?
05:00Er...
05:00I wouldn't say long.
05:03Yeah.
05:04There's two really nice stools you can sit on.
05:08So...
05:09Poppy, can I just ask, these are the engineer's logbooks, all right?
05:12Yeah, I think they go back, like, ten years.
05:15So how...
05:16How much do you read?
05:18Erm, and we've got enough to be getting home with.
05:20Alright.
05:20Well, we'll give you a shout if we need you, is that alright?
05:22Yeah.
05:23Good.
05:24Great.
05:24Do you want me to go?
05:26Erm...
05:27Storm town full.
05:28Yeah.
05:29Storm sun go will flow.
05:30They've had to triple reset.
05:32Brilliant.
05:33You've got nothing there, right?
05:35What, on the status report?
05:35Yeah.
05:36But on these status reports, it's 12 as well.
05:38That's 12, right?
05:38Mr. Paul.
05:39David Marwood, Southern Water.
05:41Oh.
05:41Good to meet you.
05:42Nice to meet you.
05:43I am gonna have to ask you to hand back these logbooks, please.
05:47Erm, they are proprietary material.
05:50Sorry, I don't, I...
05:51These books, they are the property of Southern Water.
05:54The engineer logbooks, yeah.
05:55You have gained access to them unlawfully.
05:57Erm, no.
05:58I'm asking you to hand them back.
06:00Unlawfully?
06:00These are the property of Southern Water.
06:03You gaining access to them is illegal.
06:05If you just hand it over...
06:06We are...
06:07Sorry, look.
06:08What we're doing...
06:10Mr. Marwood, we are conducting an investigation
06:12under section 108 of the environmental law.
06:15We are well within alright.
06:16Whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa.
06:18Bobby, put those down, we haven't finished with them, Mr. Marwood.
06:21You are obstructing our investigation
06:23under section 108 of the environmental act.
06:25John.
06:27What you're doing is unlawful.
06:28Please, leave.
06:30Let's just go.
06:31Let's just go.
06:34We'll be back, Mr. Marwood.
06:38Sandwiches.
06:43Criminal offence.
06:46You know, it took us seven years.
06:49Seven years.
06:52We need some in the hand.
06:54Southern Water has been sentenced to pay a record £90 million fine
06:58after pleading guilty...
07:00They pled guilty to 6,971 crimes,
07:03composited into 51 counts.
07:05First day.
07:07Each dump is punishable by five years in prison.
07:10But instead, the judge just fined them.
07:13Ninety million.
07:14Cost of doing business.
07:16They dumped 7,400 Olympic swimming pools of raw shite.
07:20With the knowledge of the board.
07:22They were making so much money,
07:24these fines weren't touching the sides.
07:26But this time they were committed to a culture change,
07:29which is why Toby Willison came in.
07:31Who's Toby Willison?
07:34Oh, you don't know about Toby Willison?
07:38So, Toby was number two in the Environment Agency,
07:41under Sir James,
07:42but then Southern poached him a year before they were sentenced.
07:46They told the judge
07:47that he was going to run a clean-up operation within the company.
07:50He saw that as a mitigating factor.
07:53Reducing the fine from £120 million to £90 million.
07:57Sorry, you hire the second most senior person at the regulator,
08:02who is actually prosecuting you.
08:05And you get a £30 million discount on your fine?
08:09But that isn't...
08:10I mean, that's corruption, isn't it?
08:13Well, we can see how it might have the appearance of corruption,
08:17but it wasn't.
08:19You see, there's a revolving door.
08:21People leave the agency
08:22and go and work for the companies they're regulating all the time.
08:25It's just the way the industry works.
08:28When the agency brought the case against Southern,
08:31was this Toby Willison in charge?
08:33Well, we know he was acting chief exec at some point.
08:36Was he deciding who you guys were going to prosecute?
08:42We didn't prosecute any water company execs.
08:45We never have.
08:48You and I can probably remember, as kids,
08:51swimming in the sea
08:52and being surrounded by floating faecal material.
08:59I've certainly experienced that now, not as kids.
09:01You look at the quality of our bathing waters now,
09:05and it is unrecognisable from 20, 25 years ago.
09:09That is a direct result of the massive amount of investment
09:14the water companies have put into the networks.
09:18Remarkable.
09:19Well, I don't believe any of that.
09:20Well, James Murray joins us now.
09:21You're not going to believe this one.
09:24Toby Willison.
09:25Yeah, what about him?
09:26You know the lobby group funded by the water companies?
09:29Yeah.
09:30Willison has been on their board since 2019.
09:33You mean after he went to Southern Water?
09:35No, no, no, no, no, no.
09:37He's been on the board of British Water while he was working for the agency.
09:40That means that the number two at the Environment Agency
09:43is at a side hustle working for the water companies.
09:49Water quality is now better than any time since the Industrial Revolution,
09:54thanks to tougher regulations by the Environment Agency.
09:57So this is Toby Willison's boss, is it?
09:59Yeah.
10:00He's at the very, very top.
10:02Liz Truss was the Environment Minister,
10:05and she made him head of the Environment Agency.
10:07I don't know why she chose him.
10:09She seems to think the Environment Agency is part of the deep state.
10:13That's because the Environment Agency will not...
10:15What?
10:15...hesitate to go after water companies who cause serious pollution.
10:18But he's at the very top, isn't it?
10:20He's the one we need to get to.
10:22He's our man.
10:32The Agency said that she could have contracted E. coli from dog poo.
10:37The little girl who died?
10:38Mm.
10:39I've been looking for another case where, like, dog faeces has triggered an E. coli.
10:44And you can't find one?
10:46Outbreak, no.
10:47No, out there.
10:48But there aren't any.
11:01What do you think?
11:02I'm going to go for a few days later.
11:16But everyone was getting sick all the time.
11:19There was this one day when I came up under this huge wave.
11:21I found a sanitary towel stuck to the back of my head
11:24and a turd lodged between my chest and the board.
11:28I thought, this has got to stop.
11:30So we founded Surfers Against Sewage in my caravan.
11:33And it was not long after that that we all went to Parliament in our wetsuits.
11:38We were trying to get the message out about clean water
11:40and we didn't do a good enough job.
11:42I picked Dawlish because it had a blue flag.
11:47Of course you did.
11:47Because the blue flag is the gold standard for water quality.
11:51It's meant to mean that the water's clean.
11:53The council, they've set up an investigation team.
11:57If it finds that sewage killed Heather,
11:59it's going to be a calamity for business here.
12:02My guess is they're going to be looking for any explanation
12:05so long as it's not sewage.
12:08Thanks all for being here at this start-up meeting
12:12for the outbreak investigation team.
12:13Sorry, I wonder if we should be calling it an outbreak.
12:18It feels like the kind of term that could alarm people.
12:20I think cluster might be better messaging.
12:23Of course the quality of the bathing water at Dawlish is consistently high.
12:27That's a really good point.
12:28I mean, that will be reflected in the report.
12:30We know there have been some complaints about sewage on the beaches.
12:34Thanks, Sarah, that's right.
12:35We were contacted by members of the public about this
12:39and we did send inspectors out.
12:41In the event, there'd been just a single spill on July 24th,
12:45a full four days before the Preenes visited the beach.
12:48So it's very unlikely that the spill could have had an impact.
12:51And we know that although the Preenes went to the beach on several occasions,
12:56Heather never swam in the water.
12:57So with sewage looking unlikely as a culprit,
13:01we're focusing on fast food and dog faeces.
13:05Mr and Mrs Preen?
13:07We were so sorry to hear about Heather.
13:11Yeah, it must be such a difficult time.
13:14But we just need to ask you a few questions.
13:17Could I ask you about the fast food your family's been eating
13:21since you got to Dawlish?
13:22So you want to know what we had to eat?
13:24Any takeaways? Burgers?
13:26No, we ate in the shadow.
13:27Chicken chops, chippies, any fast food at all?
13:30No, we didn't have any burgers, we didn't have any fast food.
13:33To be honest, we were on a bit of a budget, so...
13:36When you went to the beach, how much dog poo did you see?
13:39We didn't see any dog droppings.
13:41We saw human sewage.
13:43So why do you want to know about dog poo?
13:45Because if Heather had stepped in something, she'd have told us.
13:48We have to look into every possible source.
13:53So, if you don't know what caused the infection,
13:56then you need to shut down the beach, don't you?
13:59Because other children could get this, and my daughter's dead,
14:02so you need to shut it down.
14:05That's not going to happen.
14:07After the investigation, there's going to be an inquest.
14:11I can get you a lawyer.
14:15There was an unplanned negligible spill on the 24th,
14:18four days before the Preenes visited the beach.
14:22The Dawlish Coast is a high dispersal area.
14:25The winds and currents are sufficiently strong
14:27that any sewage would have been dispersed
14:29long before the Preenes visited the beach.
14:31E. coli 0157 is not routinely found in sewage,
14:35and it's rare in water.
14:37The sea breaks down the bacteria,
14:39so there's no record of an E. coli 0157 infection
14:43from sea bathing in the UK.
14:45What kind of health risk would sewage on a footpath present?
14:50It's not for the Environment Agency to comment on a health risk.
14:56You don't have a view about whether sewage is a health risk?
15:00It's not within the remit or the expertise
15:02of the Environment Agency to comment on a public health risk.
15:11We walked along the coastal path every day.
15:16There was a discharge coming out from the pipe,
15:18and it made a puddle, you see.
15:24How big was the puddle?
15:27I don't know, three feet, maybe.
15:30And it was spilling out onto the beach.
15:35It smelled like feces, and...
15:39And...
15:39Like I see, there was little bits of pink toilet paper in it.
15:46So you walked around it?
15:48No, we-we jumped over it.
15:54Except, um...
15:55Heather did-didn't manage to clear it, and, um...
16:02She landed in-in the puddle that was coming from the pipe?
16:05Yeah.
16:06You couldn't stop her?
16:10I do...
16:11Well, I-I didn't stop her, would you?
16:16Well, he didn't know.
16:19You say you saw the-the puddle every day?
16:24Yeah.
16:25You're aware that the Environment Agency
16:27has been unable to confirm any subsequent spills?
16:30That there was only one confirmed report of a spill
16:33during your holiday?
16:35Why do you think you were the only one who saw the puddle?
16:38I don't know.
16:42But I saw it.
16:43Is it possible that you've confused things in your memory?
16:45No, I saw it.
16:47We all saw it, didn't we?
16:53It was a puddle
16:55and a little stream of poo.
16:59In the days running up to the Preen's visit,
17:01the Environment Agency received
17:04at least 14 complaints
17:06about sewage on the beach.
17:09In the week before Heather Preen fell ill,
17:12I treated two children
17:14with febrile gastroenteritis.
17:16The children had been swimming at the town beach
17:19and then found themselves immersed in raw sewage.
17:23I reported it, but heard nothing more.
17:27In the days after the Preen's visit,
17:30Dawlish was inundated with feces.
17:34Big influxes of sewage debris
17:35were turning up on the beach.
17:37Our cleaners log the number of sanitary towels.
17:41Southwest Water pays contractors
17:42to clean up the sewage by hand.
17:44Resort staff were cleaning away sewage
17:46as a matter of urgency.
17:52At least six other children
17:54were infected with the E. coli virus
17:56after being at the beach that day.
18:01Sophie Smith was seven months old.
18:05Back home in Walsall,
18:06she was diagnosed with an E. coli 0157 infection.
18:11Eleven-year-old Jane Duncan
18:14was hospitalised with an E. coli 0157 infection.
18:20She bled through her anus 50 times
18:23in the first few days
18:24and asked her parents if she was going to die.
18:29Ashley, Ruby and Dylan Hamlin,
18:31along with their mum, Claire,
18:33were all infected.
18:36Claire drove her son, Dylan, to hospital
18:38after they both began
18:40bleeding from their backsides.
18:44Doctors wouldn't admit Claire at first,
18:46so she cleared up her own blood
18:47and vomit from the toilets.
18:52Later, Dylan's sisters, Ashley and Ruby,
18:55were also admitted.
19:06There's no cure for E. coli.
19:09They keep you on a drip
19:11and hope for the best.
19:15Dylan's screaming was so frightening,
19:17his dad thought everyone was going to die.
19:21E. coli 0157 is a pathogen
19:24that thrives in sewage.
19:26It can survive in water
19:27for up to 91 days.
19:30Swimming in water,
19:31infected with E. coli,
19:33has been identified
19:35as the cause of multiple outbreaks.
19:38We tested the waters around Dawlish.
19:41Of the 45 samples taken,
19:43only two came back positive
19:45for E. coli 0157.
19:47The infected families
19:48were all on a part of the beach
19:50where dogs were allowed.
19:51They could all have crisscrossed
19:53the site of an infected dog faeces.
19:57None of us were on the same part of the beach.
20:00We never saw any dog poo.
20:03This map doesn't make any sense.
20:06The families went on the same part of the beach.
20:08No one saw any dog faeces,
20:10and there's no good evidence
20:12of transmission from dogs anywhere.
20:15Southwest Water and the Environment Agency
20:18present this improbable theory,
20:21whilst choosing to ignore
20:23repeated substantial sewage pollution.
20:26The agency did carry out tests
20:28on the seawater,
20:30but the testing took place
20:32on the 27th of August,
20:35a full month
20:36after the infected families
20:38had visited the beach.
20:47Cunts.
20:50Fucking cunts.
20:50My mum.
20:54You're twisted, haven't you?
20:55I know, did you?
21:00I'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
21:04if I can do it again.
21:05No.
21:06What are you on about?
21:07You've done it.
21:08You stuck up for her.
21:12You stuck up for this family.
21:20We saw them sanitary towels, Jill.
21:24We saw the toilet roll.
21:26We...
21:28Didn't we?
21:32And we let our biberies go back home.
21:37Not here.
21:38Not here.
21:39Not here.
21:54At first they said it was something we had to eat,
21:57but it wasn't, so...
21:58Then they came up with dog poo.
22:03But how could all of our kids
22:05walk through the same bit of poo
22:07without remembering?
22:10I would know if my child had touched poo.
22:17The one thing all our kids did do
22:20was go into the water.
22:22We saw the toilet roll.
22:25We saw the sanitary towels.
22:29You can't tell us we didn't see it
22:30because we did, we saw it.
22:37I know now.
22:39We should have turned away from that beach.
22:42I know that.
22:46Heather's dad knows that.
22:51We will live with that.
22:53We chose Dawlish
22:55because of the blue flag,
22:56and we trusted it.
22:59The gold standard of water quality.
23:04We didn't know it was a lie.
23:12No one should have died the way my Heather died.
23:20She was poisoned,
23:22and the anti-sickness tablets they gave her
23:25meant her little body couldn't get rid of it.
23:29She was liquidised from the inside.
23:38We went on holiday,
23:40a family of four,
23:41and 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...
24:02We want something to change.
24:07We don't want another family to go to the beach
24:09and come back with one less child.
24:15And you're still dumping sewage.
24:19And you...
24:21You're the environment agency.
24:24You're supposed to look after us
24:26and you are sat here
24:27in this court
24:29and you're swapping notes with Southwest Water.
24:31Why?
24:33And it took you...
24:35It took him one month
24:35to go looking for the E. coli
24:38that killed my daughter.
24:41Why would you do that?
24:45What is this?
24:50I...
24:51I would not wish
24:53what has happened to us
24:54on my worst enemy.
24:58I wouldn't wish it on your kids.
25:04So, please...
25:07Close the beach, please.
25:12Before this happens to somebody else.
25:15Please.
25:16Please.
25:28Following an inquisition
25:30taken for our Sovereign Lady, the Queen,
25:34touching on the death
25:35of Heather Amy Preen.
25:40The cause of death
25:42was E. coli poisoning.
25:46The deceased probably contracted E. coli
25:49whilst visiting the beach
25:51at Dawlish Warren
25:52on the 24th of July,
25:56along with other children
25:57who survived.
26:02I recommend that consideration
26:04be given to a notice
26:06warning the public
26:08of sewage discharges
26:10and that an ultraviolet treatment
26:12should be added
26:13to the sewage works
26:14at Dawlish.
26:16Consideration
26:16should be given
26:17to greater enforcement
26:19of the dogs
26:20on the beach ban.
26:41June 2019,
26:43Sir James Bevan Environment Agency.
26:45Dear Sir James,
26:46I wrote to you
26:47to raise concerns
26:48about a serious integrity issue
26:50involving the agency.
26:52I did not receive
26:53any acknowledgement.
26:55Yes, Sir James Bevan.
26:58This is Ash Smith.
26:59Wind rush against sewage pollution.
27:01We sent an email.
27:01We sent a lot of emails.
27:03Ash.
27:04What?
27:05Ash.
27:06Yes, I'll hold.
27:07I'm on the bloody phone.
27:07They want us to come in.
27:15Fucking hell.
27:17Earlier than we used to.
27:25Very nice to meet you.
27:26Hello there.
27:26Please do sit down.
27:28Sir James is on the premises.
27:32He's...
27:32I think he's at a meeting.
27:34I was hoping it might be
27:37even present in the meeting.
27:39Not this kind of meeting,
27:40though.
27:40He's...
27:40I just wanted to start
27:42with a few questions
27:44about integrity.
27:45Because I see that
27:46the agency's
27:47former director of operations
27:49joined the board
27:50of British water
27:51while he was working
27:52for the agency,
27:53which means that
27:54your COO
27:55was moonlighting
27:58for the water companies
27:59while he was regulating them.
28:01So what do we...
28:02Oh, dear.
28:02What do we call that?
28:03Well, I think
28:04moonlighting's a pretty strong word.
28:05Yeah.
28:06Definition.
28:07What I would say
28:08is that
28:08Toby Willison
28:09no longer works
28:10for the agency.
28:11That's the first point.
28:12And when he decided...
28:14But how does that affect
28:15when he was here,
28:16though?
28:17The fact that he's not here
28:19doesn't...
28:19I'm coming on to that.
28:20His declarations,
28:21with all due respect,
28:22his declarations of interest
28:23were noted at the time.
28:25Right.
28:25And any risks at all,
28:26and we do take these things
28:27very seriously,
28:28were appropriately managed.
28:29Yes, but then
28:30Mr Willison
28:30was hired by a water company
28:32as it stood trial
28:33on 51 counts
28:36of sewage dumping.
28:37How is that not a case
28:38of conflict of interest?
28:40Ah, well,
28:41very clear rules,
28:43which was what I was going to say.
28:44Very clear,
28:45clear rules
28:46around conflict of interest
28:47were put in place
28:47as soon as
28:49Mr Willison decided
28:50to take up his new job.
28:51So he stepped out
28:53of any relevant discussions.
28:55We did everything
28:57we could to make that.
28:58Well, the judge
28:58ruled that all criminal activity
29:00in that case
29:01was masterminded
29:02from the top of the company.
29:03So was Mr Willison
29:04involved in the decision
29:05not to prosecute
29:06Southern executives?
29:07Was it...
29:08We can't comment on that.
29:10No.
29:10We can't comment.
29:11Yeah, we don't talk
29:13about internal meetings.
29:16Well, how many
29:17water company executives
29:18has the agency prosecuted?
29:21Well, criminal prosecution
29:22is quite a high bar.
29:25That's it.
29:26If we had evidence
29:27that the offence
29:29was serious enough,
29:30we wouldn't hesitate
29:30to prosecute,
29:31but there is no
29:32substantiated evidence.
29:33We've just given you evidence.
29:35But it's not substantiated.
29:36A board sanctioned plan
29:38for seven years
29:40of continuous dumping
29:42was not enough evidence.
29:46Thanks so much.
29:47We'll be in touch.
29:49Thank you so much.
29:51Thanks so much.
29:52I hope that goes well.
30:06I'm going to get another one.
30:10You're going to have another
30:12Flake 99?
30:13Eileen thinks I've got
30:14an obsessive streak.
30:16Well, she's not wrong,
30:17is she?
30:23What the hell was that?
30:26Or did you think
30:26they'd be more grateful
30:29for our disclosures
30:30about revolving doors?
30:31They really think
30:31that that was all right,
30:33working for both of them
30:34at the same time.
30:35And I think
30:36you're taking it personally.
30:37I am.
30:37You know,
30:38I mean,
30:38for me,
30:38it's an occupational hazard.
30:39I feel like I've been beaten up.
30:42That's how I feel.
30:43And I've never been beaten up.
30:44We're getting somewhere.
30:45We're making a difference.
30:47We're clearly
30:48up against
30:49something bigger.
31:01We're making a difference.
31:05We're inside!
31:08No!
31:09Go!
31:12No!
32:13Right, see, no, she's not going to be back from football till about seven, so just tell her to put
32:20that in the micro.
32:24You look nice.
32:27What is it?
32:34Um, you know, um, Tony's got that flat down the Arlander Road.
32:40You know, he's not using.
32:42Well, um, he said that I can stop there for a bit if I want, you know, just...
32:49Just while I do the Tesco job, like.
32:53Yeah, er, good idea.
32:58It might be better, mate, isn't it?
33:00Yeah.
33:01Yeah.
33:05I'm going to be late, so...
33:11All right.
33:20Yeah.
33:29See ya.
33:29See ya.
33:46All right, Dad?
33:47You all right, Dad?
33:50I've got your pizza in here, if you want it.
33:51I'm not hungry.
33:54I've got a project, so I might just...
33:58All right, yeah.
33:58We'll have it later, shall we?
34:00Yeah.
34:01If we get hungry.
34:02All right.
34:15Do you want anything, babe?
34:20I've got nothing special.
34:22I love you!
34:24I love you!
34:25I love you!
34:28Are you all right, Dad?
34:30Mm-hmm.
34:30God, look at you.
34:32What's going on, Mum?
35:00Watch the video.
35:01Yeah.
35:02It's really not as bad as you think it is.
35:05No, it's not.
35:06Oh, there it is.
35:08Is there sound on this?
35:09Oh, no sound.
35:11So there it is, as you can see.
35:13Oh, no.
35:13Yeah, let's click for it.
35:17Yeah.
35:19Yeah.
35:19And we actually think it's agricultural runoff.
35:24Yeah.
35:24Actually.
35:25Not from farms.
35:26Mm-hmm.
35:27It's almost certainly farm runoff.
35:29Mm-hmm.
35:29Almost certainly.
35:30Yeah.
35:30We believe.
35:31Yeah.
35:32Um, and we do have a responsibility to report that to the Environment Agency.
35:38Mm-hmm.
35:38So we'd say, um, this is due to the farm, the farms, and that is what has led to this
35:46overspill.
35:47Mm-hmm.
35:48That's really nice.
35:48I love that as well.
35:50That was very good.
35:51So though there have been storm-activated overspill, the discoloration of the water is because
35:58of agricultural runoff.
36:01Yeah.
36:01We are sorry about this, and we will do everything in our power to improve the situation, but
36:10some of it is not our fault.
36:12Well, I think if we can just own it.
36:12It is not our fault.
36:14Yeah.
36:14Exactly.
36:14I think we just own it.
36:15It's farmer's fault.
36:17I can use the hands, and I think that helps the audience to feel like I'm one of them.
36:23Yeah.
36:23You very much do fit in as well with one of them.
36:25You know that you're almost one of them in many ways.
36:29Yes.
36:30Yes.
36:30I thought, hi-vis, a pair of those wrap-around goggles that kind of skiers wear.
36:34You've got those, Lizzy.
36:35Yeah.
36:35And a hard hat.
36:36I hear your frustration.
36:39I really do.
36:40Smashed it.
36:41I thought it was amazing.
36:42So you know we've been getting a lot of these sickness reports coming in from the southwest.
36:47They've asked us if we wanted to go to a meeting down there.
36:50It's kind of a national thing.
36:51There's going to be water company bosses there, and I think we should go, shouldn't we?
36:56We've done a huge amount of research at the UK Council of Water on levels of public trust in the
37:02water industry.
37:04And what we've found generally is that levels of public trust are actually pretty high.
37:08Well, you might laugh, but...
37:12Guy, I actually, I do get it.
37:14There's been a lot of pain, there's been a lot of frustration.
37:17And I get that.
37:17We have the only bathing status river in this country, and we have 2,000 people there in the summer
37:22with their kids, with fishing nets, sitting amongst turds.
37:27We're all passionate about the environment.
37:30We're passionate about water quality.
37:31It's the driving force behind what we do.
37:34No.
37:34Can you answer why, then?
37:35My son's been so ill from 2022, after a day on the beach, and then contracted hepatitis A.
37:43That is the week before we went on our holiday.
37:48That's the week after, in hospital.
37:51That's the week later, when he's starting to get jaundice, and he's starting to get bilirubin.
37:57And that, that's from something called cholestasis, which affects your gallbladder.
38:02He itched like crazy.
38:04These scars are still around.
38:07He can't stand without them hurting.
38:09Through school, I missed about properly three, four months.
38:13And even when I was at school, I was, like, tired.
38:17I was dropping to sleep.
38:18I couldn't remember half the stuff I'd learned.
38:21And it took a lot, a long time to sort of build back up a sort of friendship group.
38:27Erm...
38:28And it also led to, like, a lot of bullying.
38:31People saying, oh, you went in the water, all this dirty water, human pooing it and stuff like that.
38:36Erm, I used to do a lot of farming, helping my dad.
38:40It just wipes you out. You've got no energy, you can't do anything.
38:43You just, you just had to stop.
38:46Every feedback that you give us is, you know, really, really important to us.
38:50I didn't know at the time, but Surfers Against Sewage explained that there was 342 hours of raw sewage
38:57that was released into the beach that I was swimming on.
39:00This particular strep bacteria entered my bloodstream and started growing on my heart valve.
39:05So I had to have a heart replacement.
39:07I was in hospital for six weeks.
39:09I ended up having, erm, open heart surgery.
39:12The health and well-being of our customers is at the forefront of what we do.
39:16And hearing stories like this is incredibly important to us.
39:19If I was even off...
39:21Lessons will be learned going forwards.
39:23We can reflect on them going forwards.
39:24You've had to say, now listen to someone who's worked in the water industry for 40 years of his life.
39:30Prior to privatisation, if the infrastructure needed upgrading, it got it.
39:34If it needed bits of plants to be replaced, it got it.
39:37It was run like a military operation.
39:40Macquarie's come along, God help us, asset stripped it, sold land, sold pumping stations, built blocks of flats onto it
39:49and decimated our infrastructure.
39:51This falls back to the government to re-nationalise this industry.
39:56ASAP!
40:01Get rid of the people who have asset stripped it, stripped it of millions of pounds, all your profits, all
40:08your bonuses.
40:09Keir Starmer, Steve Reid, the Invisible Man, do your job and re-nationalise the water industry.
40:16Well...
40:24Mistakes are made.
40:26But I would say this, and I'd happily go on the record, I would drink water out of any tap
40:31in the United Kingdom.
40:34Sorry, would you come to Brixham and have a glass of our water?
40:37Last year in May, we had an outbreak of cryptosporidium, as Susan Davies knows.
40:44It's obviously a privilege and a huge responsibility to run a water company.
40:51And it's one that I take very, very seriously.
40:53I was poisoned by cryptosporidium in the water.
40:56I was ill for such a very long time, six months or more.
41:00My body was attacking itself, my immune system was attacking itself.
41:03My injuries are life-changing.
41:05What we are committed to is improving, step by step, and things do go wrong.
41:09Things go wrong.
41:11I put my hands up.
41:12Could you please explain to us why you got a 58% pay rise?
41:17I don't actually set my pay.
41:21I don't actually.
41:22It's not down to me how much I'm paid.
41:25The amount you're talking about will actually be a cost of living increase.
41:29You earn 860 grand a year?
41:33We don't have a choice in our water provider.
41:36I come from Henley, we're in the Thames region, I know Ash and Peter well.
41:41How have we arrived in a situation where a privatised water industry is scamming the public,
41:48is taking off enormous profits and dividends for shareholders, paying huge bonuses to executives,
41:53and our children are getting vomiting and diarrhoea from doing what should come naturally.
41:57We do not trust you!
41:59Not one water company executive has ever been prosecuted and has served prison time, quite honestly, which they should.
42:14There you go.
42:15I wanted to see you.
42:18Sorry, sorry, sorry.
42:21Yeah, hello.
42:21Pete, listen to me.
42:22Mickey?
42:23Yeah?
42:23I haven't got much time, alright?
42:25River Ray, outside Swindon.
42:27A sewage maze exploded!
42:30It's a crime scene, and you've got to get down there right now before they clear it up.
42:33And Pete, listen.
42:35You're a 21-carat Gita.
42:37Yeah, so are you, Nicky.
43:05The river's gone, Nash.
43:07I mean, that's...
43:10And it's not coming back.
43:22How many do you reckon?
43:25Well, killed.
43:27Hundreds, thousands.
43:29Thousands of babies, definitely.
43:36What?
43:37Ash, I'm scared that we're running out of time.
43:44What do you mean by that?
43:45That we're running out of time to make a difference.
43:50What are you talking about? Look at this. Look at this we've got.
43:52This is the best stuff.
43:54But nothing's going to happen, is it, Ash?
43:56What do you mean?
43:58Thameswater, they're going to make a statement
44:00saying that the environment is their number one priority
44:05and the agency, they're just going to launch an investigation
44:09that we'll never hear about again.
44:12Yeah.
44:13And, well, they're acting as though we don't exist.
44:17So what are you saying?
44:20I don't know how long we've got.
44:25We're not going to make a difference.
44:27There's no time left to make a difference.
44:30What are you talking about?
44:31Look at...
44:31Look at this we just shot.
44:35But it doesn't matter...
44:36This is not the time to pack it in.
44:38But it doesn't matter what we show them.
44:40It doesn't matter...
44:41I mean, we could show them dead bodies floating down the river.
44:43They still wouldn't do anything about it, would they?
44:46Right.
44:47We just go back, you go and watch some bloody jazz.
44:50When you think you're beaten, you don't give in.
44:54We're going to the right channels, we're doing the right thing.
44:57And nothing's coming back.
44:58And nothing's come back for years.
45:00What do you want to do?
45:03It's exhausting.
45:05We get nothing back.
45:07I'm not stopping.
45:09I can't.
45:21Hello.
45:22Yeah, no.
45:23Yeah, we're on a paper.
45:42May 2020.
45:43Subject, Environment Agency Complicit in Law Breaking.
45:46Dear Sir James, over the past two years, Professor Peter Hammond and I have been documenting chronic offending by Thames
45:53water.
45:54Thames have been using our river as a cheap way to carry raw sewage out to sea and making vast
46:00profits doing so.
46:01The Environment Agency has been turning a blind eye and misrepresenting facts to the public.
46:24Peter.
46:28Peter.
46:29It's the middle of the night.
46:32What are you doing?
46:36I was worried.
46:37I couldn't sleep.
46:40Worried about what?
46:45About all the things that, all the things that live in the river.
46:53You didn't put your hands in it, did you?
46:57No.
46:58Okay.
47:02There's nothing you can do now.
47:05I know.
47:08I know.
47:09Okay.
47:12So...
47:13Shall we go back to bed?
47:16Yeah.
47:17Yeah.
47:53Can we go back and check it out right now?
47:54Alright, go back and check it out.
47:55Last night, I need to be stressed.
47:55No.
47:56We are not allowed.
47:56Lots of things that I'm in the house.
47:58But then, I'm in the house, to be in the house.
48:02We are árduous.
48:30We have the best quality water
48:32since the Industrial Revolution.
48:34The water's turned brown.
48:35From today, we are ending on-site inspections
48:38for Cats 3 and 4.
48:40What exactly do you want us to do?
48:43Reuben! Reuben!
48:47We need another whistleblower.
48:49The regulation isn't real.
48:50The government wants us to look like a regulator,
48:52but they won't let us do our job.
48:53You have a duty not to disclose confidential information
48:58to anyone not authorised to receive it!
49:32We'll be right back!
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