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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.
00:26And wash it up, scrubby.
00:28Heather's brain has lost the ability to control her vital organs.
00:31I think it's time we consider turning off her ventilators.
00:34We'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.
00:42They make Del Boy do like a f***ing amateur.
00:44When the everyday flows are missing, they're not treating the sewage.
00:48And if they're not treating the sewage, there's nowhere for it to go.
00:51Except into the river.
00:52Regulate yourselves, and then just let us know if you've committed any crimes.
00:56They've dumped sewage a thousand times.
00:59These aren't accidents. It's a policy.
01:02This is starting to look like organised crime.
01:05F***!
01:05F***!
01:08It's only now that it's coming to light.
01:10Thank goodness for the People's Regulator, Peter Hammond.
01:13Thank goodness for Ash.
01:15Thank goodness for the public, who are standing up and showing you what's really going on.
01:26Hi, Amy Christophers, Citizens Against Southwest Water.
01:32When Peter decoded these spreadsheets, we realised that the company had been dumping sewage into our river for years.
01:45Me and the machines, we are now investigating hundreds, hundreds of these sewage works using the data from each one
01:56of them.
01:58You know they've got to go down to, um, Whitstable this weekend.
02:02What, Saturday?
02:03Yeah, yeah, yeah.
02:05They've got these two people that have been working at the agency.
02:08It says that the Southern Water solicitors have been threatening them.
02:15Oh, you know about Charles and Camilla?
02:17Charles and Camilla were coming down for the Whitstable Oyster Festival, right?
02:23When they tested them, they were so full of s***, they had to give them oysters imported from France.
02:29All over the local news.
02:30Whitstable's oysters under threat from sewage leaks.
02:34Sewage spills threaten to wipe out Whitstable's oyster farmers.
02:37People were very f***ed off.
02:41Look at the amount of effort.
02:46So, Southern Water, you're not releasing sewerage into the sea?
02:50By then, the Environment Agency had no choice.
02:53They had to launch an investigation.
02:55Made a mistake of putting us in charge.
02:56We're the ones in the trenches.
02:58We take things seriously.
02:59There are still a few of us left.
03:01But we had no clue what we were letting ourselves in for, did we?
03:04Right.
03:04No.
03:05What have you done?
03:06Pull my back out this morning.
03:08Hello?
03:10Hello, it's John Bull from the Environment Agency.
03:12Have you got an appointment?
03:13Tell them I'm waving.
03:15Tell them I'm waving.
03:18Begah, go on.
03:19Go on, right.
03:20Jump up and down.
03:20Alright, that's it. I'm not...
03:21Honestly, I can't stand up for too long today.
03:24Sit down, mate.
03:24We know you're in there.
03:25We are not leaving.
03:26We have an appointment.
03:28It's now...
03:29Cheese mayo spring onion.
03:31Almost looks like one word, then.
03:35Press one to speak to no one.
03:37Press two...
03:38Speak to no one.
03:39To speak to no one.
03:40Press three...
03:42To give up all hope.
03:44Same bollocks every works we went.
03:46Chichester.
03:47Millbrook.
03:48Slow Hill.
03:48Fulham.
03:50So many times just refusing us entry.
03:52Sometimes we just snatch the load books right out of our hands.
03:55Or just tell us to fuck off.
03:57When you get chicken from a supermarket, it's got the plastic covering on, right?
04:01Yeah.
04:02Lift that off, leave it for a few minutes because it automatically smells of fish.
04:07People get scared, think they're going to get food poisoning.
04:09That's when they throw it away.
04:10But if you leave it for a bit, let the air come out, right?
04:12I know.
04:13It just smells of chicken.
04:14Then you can cook it.
04:15Oh.
04:17Hiya.
04:18Miss Humphries?
04:20Yeah?
04:20Yeah, well...
04:21We've made an appointment.
04:23Oh, sorry.
04:24Is that you guys?
04:24Yeah.
04:25Yeah, we've been here for a while.
04:26We've been buzzing.
04:2811.915.
04:29Come on.
04:29Oh, 9.15.
04:31Yes, 9.
04:32As opposed to...
04:34Uh...
04:343.15.
04:35Yeah.
04:35Can we just get in there, please?
04:36Can you buzz us in?
04:37He's got a bad back.
04:38Come on.
04:39Oh, my God.
04:41What?
04:42Is your buzzer broken?
04:43No.
04:44Have you worked here long?
04:46Uh...
04:47I wouldn't say long.
04:49Yeah.
04:50There's two really nice stools you can sit on.
04:54So...
04:55Poppy, can I just ask, these are the engineers logbooks, all right?
04:58Yeah, I think they go back, like, 10 years.
05:01So, how much do you read?
05:04Um, and we've got enough to be getting home with.
05:06All right.
05:06We'll give you a shout if we need you.
05:08Is that all right?
05:09Good.
05:10Great.
05:10Do you want me to go?
05:12Um...
05:12Storm turn four.
05:14Storm sun go and flow.
05:15They've had to triple reset.
05:18Brilliant.
05:18Done.
05:18You've got nothing there, right?
05:20What, on the status report?
05:21Yeah.
05:21But on these status reports, it's 12 as well.
05:23That's 12.
05:23Mr. Paul.
05:24David Marwood, Southern Water.
05:26Oh, good to meet you.
05:27Nice to meet you, Alex.
05:27Nice to meet you.
05:28I am going to have to ask you to hand back these logbooks, please.
05:31Um, they are proprietary material.
05:34Sorry, I don't...
05:35These books, they are the property of Southern Water.
05:38The engineer logbooks, yeah.
05:40You have gained access to them unlawfully.
05:42Uh, nice.
05:42I'm asking you to hand them back.
05:44Unlawfully?
05:44These are the property of Southern Water.
05:47You gaining access to them is illegal.
05:49If you just hand it over...
05:50No one wants to...
05:50Sorry, sorry.
05:52What we're doing...
05:53Mr. Marwood, we are conducting an investigation under section 108 of the Environmental Act.
05:58We are well within all right.
06:00Whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa.
06:02Bobby, put those down.
06:03We haven't finished with them.
06:03Mr. Marwood, you are obstructing our investigation under section 108 of the Environmental Act.
06:09What you're doing is unlawful.
06:11Please leave.
06:13Let's just go.
06:14Let's just go.
06:15Bobby, get them here.
06:17We'll be back, Mr. Marwood.
06:20Sandwiches.
06:25Criminal offence.
06:28You know, it took us seven years.
06:31Seven years.
06:33We need some in the end.
06:35Southern Water has been sentenced to pay a record £90 million fine after pleading guilty...
06:41They pled guilty to 6,971 crimes, come positive into 51 counts.
06:46First day.
06:47Each dump is punishable by five years in prison.
06:50But instead, the judge just fined them.
06:53Ninety million.
06:54Cost of doing business.
06:56They dumped 7,400 Olympic swimming pools of raw shite with the knowledge of the board.
07:02They were making so much money.
07:04These fines weren't touching the sides.
07:06But this time they were committed to a culture change, which is why Toby Willison came in.
07:10Who's Toby Willison?
07:13Oh, you don't know about Toby Willison?
07:17So, Toby was number two in the Environment Agency under Sir James, but then Southern poached him a year before
07:24they were sentenced.
07:25They told the judge that he was going to run a clean-up operation within the company.
07:29He saw that as a mitigating factor.
07:32Reducing the fine from £120 million to £90 million.
07:35Sorry.
07:36You hire the second most senior person at the regulator, who is actually prosecuting you.
07:43And you get a £30 million discount on your fine.
07:47But that's corruption, isn't it?
07:50Well, we can see how it might have the appearance of corruption, but it wasn't.
07:56You see, there's a revolving door.
07:58People leave the agency and go and work for the companies they're regulating all the time.
08:02It's just the way the industry works.
08:04When the agency brought the case against Southern, was this Toby Willison in charge?
08:10What?
08:11We know he was acting chief exec at some point.
08:13Was he deciding who you guys were going to prosecute?
08:18We didn't prosecute any water company execs.
08:21We never have.
08:24You and I can probably remember as kids swimming in the sea and being surrounded by floating fecal material.
08:34I've certainly experienced that now, not as kids.
08:37You look at the quality of our bathing waters now and it is unrecognisable from 20, 25 years ago.
08:44That is a direct result of the massive amount of investment the water companies have put into the networks.
08:53Remarkable.
08:53Well, I don't believe any of that.
08:54Well, James Murray joins us now.
08:56You're not going to believe this one.
08:58Toby Willison.
08:59Yeah, what about him?
09:00You know the lobby group funded by the water companies?
09:03Yeah.
09:04Willison has been on their board since 2019.
09:07You mean after he went to Southern Water?
09:08No, no, no, no, no, no, no.
09:10He's been on the board of British Water while he was working for the agency.
09:14That means that the number two at the Environment Agency has had a side hustle working for the water companies.
09:22Water quality is now better than any time since the Industrial Revolution, thanks to tougher regulations by the Environment Agency.
09:30So this is Toby Willison's boss, is it?
09:32Yeah.
09:33He's at the very, very top.
09:35Liz Truss was the Environment Minister and she made him head of the Environment Agency.
09:39I don't know why she chose him.
09:41She seems to think the Environment Agency is part of the deep state.
09:45That's because the Environment Agency will not...
09:46What?
09:47...hesitate to go after water companies who cause serious pollution.
09:50But he's at the very top, isn't it?
09:52He's the one we need to get to.
09:53He's our man.
10:03The Agency said that she could have contracted E. coli from dog poo.
10:08The little girl who died?
10:09Mmm.
10:10I've been looking for another case where, like, dog feces has triggered an E. coli.
10:15And you can't find one?
10:16Outbreak, no.
10:17No, I...
10:18But there aren't any.
10:22Hi, is that Julie?
10:24Hi, this is Chris Hines.
10:27Yes, I work for an organisation called Surfers Against Sewage.
10:30Listen, Julie, I'm down at the beach at Dawlidge Warren.
10:35I think we really need to speak.
10:37No, I've always been a surfer.
10:39I moved to Cornwall when I was 19, lived in a caravan, just so I could surf every day.
10:45But everyone was getting sick all the time.
10:47There was this one day when I came up under this huge wave.
10:50I found a sanitary towel stuck to the back of my head and a turd lodged between my chest and
10:56the board.
10:56I thought, this has got to stop.
10:58So we founded Surfers Against Sewage in my caravan.
11:01And it was not long after that that we all went to Parliament in our wetsuits.
11:05We were trying to get the message out about clean water and we didn't do a good enough job.
11:10I picked Dawlish because it had a blue flag.
11:14Of course it did, because the blue flag is the gold standard for water quality.
11:18It's meant to mean that the water's clean.
11:20The council, they've set up an investigation team.
11:24If it finds that sewage killed Heather, it's going to be a calamity for business here.
11:29My guess is they're going to be looking for any explanation, so long as it's not sewage.
11:34Thanks all for being here at this start-up meeting for the outbreak investigation team.
11:40Sorry, I wonder if we should be calling it an outbreak.
11:43I feel that's the kind of term that could alarm people.
11:46I think cluster might be better messaging.
11:49Of course, the quality of the bathing water at Dawlish is consistently high.
11:53That's a really good point. I mean, that will be reflected in the report.
11:55We know there have been some complaints about sewage on the beaches.
11:59Oh, thanks Sarah, that's right.
12:01We were contacted by members of the public about this and we did send inspectors out.
12:06In the event, there had been just a single spill on July 24th,
12:09a full four days before the Preen's visited the beach.
12:12So it's very unlikely that the spill could have had an impact.
12:16And we know that although the Preen's went to the beach on several occasions, Heather never swam in the water.
12:21So with sewage looking unlikely as a culprit, we're focusing on fast food and dog faeces.
12:28Mr. and Mrs. Preen?
12:31We were so sorry to hear about Heather.
12:35Yeah, it must be such a difficult time.
12:38But we just need to ask you a few questions.
12:40Could I ask you about the fast food your family's been eating since you got to Dawlish?
12:45So you want to know what we had to eat?
12:47Any takeaways, burgers?
12:49No, we ate in the shadow.
12:50Chicken shops, chippies, any fast food at all?
12:53No.
12:53We didn't have any burgers, we didn't have any fast food, to be honest.
12:56We were on a bit of a budget, so...
12:58When you went to the beach, how much dog poo did you see?
13:01Look, we didn't see any dog shopping. We saw human sewage.
13:04So why do you want to know about dog poo? Because if Heather had stepped in something, she'd have told
13:09us.
13:09We have to look into every possible source.
13:15So, if you don't know what caused the infection, then you need to shut down the beach, don't you?
13:20Because the children could get this, but my daughter's dead, so you need to shut it down.
13:26That's not going to happen.
13:28After the investigation, there's going to be an inquest.
13:32I can get you a lawyer.
13:35There was an unplanned negligible spill on the 24th, four days before the preens visited the beach.
13:42The Dawlish Coast is a high dispersal area.
13:45The winds and currents are sufficiently strong that any sewage would have been dispersed long before the preens visited the
13:51beach.
13:51E. coli 0157 is not routinely found in sewage, and it's rare in water.
13:56The sea breaks down the bacteria, so there's no record of an E. coli 0157 infection from sea bathing in
14:03the UK.
14:04What kind of health risk would sewage on a footpath present?
14:08It's not for the Environment Agency to comment on a health risk.
14:14You don't have a view about whether sewage is a health risk?
14:18It's not within the remit or the expertise of the Environment Agency to comment on a public health risk.
14:29We walked along the coastal path every day.
14:33There was a discharge coming out from the pipe, and it made a puddle, you see.
14:41How big was the puddle?
14:43I don't know, three feet maybe.
14:47And it was spilling out onto the beach.
14:51It smelt like feces.
14:55And I could see there was little bits of pink toilet paper in here.
15:02So you walked around it?
15:04No, we jumped over it.
15:10Except, um...
15:11Heather didn't manage to clear it and, um...
15:17She landed in the puddle that was coming from the pipe?
15:20Yeah.
15:21You couldn't stop her?
15:25What...
15:26What...
15:27What didn't stop her?
15:31We didn't know.
15:34You say you saw the puddle every day.
15:38Yeah.
15:39You're aware that the Environment Agency has been unable to confirm any subsequent spills.
15:44But there was only one confirmed report of a spill during your holiday.
15:49Why do you think you were the only one who saw the puddle?
15:52I don't know.
15:55I saw it.
15:56Is it possible that you've confused things in your memory?
15:58No, I saw it.
16:00We all saw it, didn't we?
16:05It was a puddle,
16:07and a little stream of poo.
16:11In the days running out to the Preen's visit,
16:14the Environment Agency received at least 14 complaints
16:19about sewage on the beach.
16:21In the week before Heather Preen fell ill,
16:24I treated two children with febrile gastroenteritis.
16:28The children had been swimming at the town beach,
16:31and then found themselves immersed in raw sewage.
16:35I reported it, but heard nothing more.
16:38In the days after the Preen's visit,
16:41Dorlish was inundated with feces.
16:44Big influxes of sewage debris were turning up on the beach.
16:47Our cleaners log the number of sanitary towels.
16:51Southwest Water pays contractors to clean up the sewage by hand.
16:54Resort staff were cleaning away sewage as a matter of urgency.
17:02At least six other children were infected with the E. coli virus after being at the beach that day.
17:10Sophie Smith was seven months old.
17:14Back home in Walsall, she was diagnosed with an E. coli O157 infection.
17:20Eleven-year-old Jane Duncan was hospitalized with an E. coli O157 infection.
17:29She bled through her anus 50 times in the first few days and asked her parents if she was going
17:34to die.
17:37Ashley, Ruby, and Dylan Hamlin, along with their mum, Claire, were all infected.
17:44Claire drove her son Dylan to hospital after they both began bleeding from their backsides.
17:51Doctors wouldn't admit Claire at first, so she cleared up her own blood and vomit from the toilets.
17:59Later, Dylan's sisters Ashley and Ruby were also admitted.
18:12There's no cure for E. coli.
18:15They keep you on a drip and hope for the best.
18:21Dylan's screaming was so frightening his dad thought everyone was going to die.
18:27E. coli 0157 is a pathogen that thrives in sewage.
18:31It can survive in water for up to 91 days.
18:35Swimming in water, infected with E. coli, has been identified as the cause of multiple outbreaks.
18:43We tested the waters around Dawlish.
18:46Of the 45 samples taken, only two came back positive for E. coli 0157.
18:52The infected families were all on a part of the beach where dogs were allowed.
18:56They could all have criss-crossed the site of an infected dog faeces.
19:01None of us were on the same part of the beach.
19:04We never saw any dog poo.
19:07This map doesn't make any sense.
19:10Families went on the same part of the beach.
19:12No one saw any dog faeces.
19:14And there's no good evidence of transmission from dogs anywhere.
19:18Southwest Water and the Environment Agency present this improbable theory,
19:24whilst choosing to ignore repeated substantial sewage pollution.
19:29The Agency did carry out tests on the seawater.
19:33But the testing took place on the 27th of August.
19:37A full month after the infected families had visited the beach.
19:48Quincy.
19:51Fucking Quincy.
19:52My mom.
19:55You twisted everything?
19:56No, this is.
20:01I've laid her down, haven't I?
20:02You've not laid her down.
20:04You think I can ask Henry if I can do it again?
20:06No.
20:07What are you on about?
20:08You've done it.
20:09You've stuck up for her.
20:13You've stuck up for this family.
20:20We saw them sanitary towels, Jo.
20:24We saw the toilet roll.
20:28Didn't we?
20:29Didn't we?
20:32And we let our libraries go back home?
20:37Not here.
20:38Not here.
20:38Not here.
20:39No.
20:53At first they said it was something we had to eat, but it wasn't, so.
20:57Then they came up with dog poo.
21:01But how could all of our kids walk through the same bit of poo without remembering?
21:08I would know if my child had touched poo.
21:14The one thing all our kids did do was go into the water.
21:19We saw the toilet roll.
21:22We saw the sanitary towels.
21:25You can't tell us we didn't see it because we did, we saw it.
21:33I know now we should have turned away from that beach.
21:38I know that.
21:42Heather's dad knows that.
21:46We will live with that.
21:49We chose Dawlish because of the blue flag and we trusted it.
21:54The gold standard of water quality.
21:59We didn't know it was a lie.
22:06No one should have died the way my Heather died.
22:14She was poisoned.
22:16And the anti-sickness tablets they gave her
22:19meant her little body couldn't get rid of it.
22:23She was liquidised from the inside.
22:32We went on holiday, a family of four.
22:35And we've come back a family of three.
22:47And we don't want any money, don't worry.
22:50We don't want your money, so...
22:53We just...
22:55We want something to change.
22:59We don't want another family to go to the beach
23:01and come back with one less child.
23:07And you're still dumping sewage.
23:11And you...
23:13You're the environment agency.
23:16You're supposed to look after us
23:17and you are sat here in this court
23:20and you're swapping notes with Southwest Water.
23:22Why?
23:24And it took you...
23:25It took him one month
23:27to go looking for the E. coli
23:28that killed my daughter.
23:31Why would you do that?
23:35What is this?
23:40I...
23:41I would not wish
23:43what has happened to us on my worst enemy.
23:48I wouldn't wish it on your kids.
23:52So...
23:54Please...
23:56Close the beach, please.
24:01Before this happens to somebody else.
24:03Please.
24:16Following an inquisition taken for our Sovereign Lady, the Queen,
24:22touching on the death of Heather Amy Preen.
24:28The cause of death was E. coli poisoning.
24:33The deceased properly contracted E. coli
24:37whilst visiting the beach at Dawlish Warren
24:39on the 24th of July,
24:42along with other children
24:45who survived.
24:49I recommend that consideration be given to a notice
24:53warning the public of sewage discharges
24:56and that an ultraviolet treatment should be added
24:59to the sewage works at Dawlish.
25:02Consideration should be given
25:03to greater enforcement of the dogs on the beach ban.
25:25The End
25:26June 2019, Sir James Bevan Environment Agency.
25:30Dear Sir James,
25:31I wrote to you to raise concerns about a serious integrity issue
25:35involving the agency.
25:37I did not receive any acknowledgement.
25:39Yes, Sir James Bevan.
25:42This is Ash Smith.
25:43Windrush against sewage pollution.
25:44We sent an email...
25:45We sent a lot of emails.
25:47Ash.
25:47What?
25:49Ash.
25:49Yes, I'll hold.
25:50I'm on the bloody phone.
25:51They want us to come in.
25:58Fucking hell.
26:00Earlier than me, you stay.
26:07Very nice to meet you.
26:09Hello there.
26:10Please do sit down.
26:11Sir James is on the premises.
26:14He's...
26:15I think he's at a meeting.
26:17I was hoping he might be even present in the meeting.
26:21Not this kind of meeting, though.
26:22I just wanted to start with a few questions about integrity.
26:27Because I see that the agency's former director of operations joined the board of British Water while he was working
26:33for the agency.
26:35Which means that your COO was moonlighting for the water companies while he was regulating them.
26:42So what do we...
26:43Oh dear.
26:43What do we call that?
26:44Well, I think moonlighting is a pretty strong word.
26:47Definition?
26:48What I would say is that Toby Willison no longer works for the agency.
26:51That's the first point.
26:53And when he...
26:54How does that affect when he was here, though?
26:58The fact that he's not here doesn't...
26:59I'm coming on to that.
27:00His declarations, with all due respect, his declarations of interest were noted at the time.
27:05And any risks at all, and we do take these things very seriously, were appropriately managed.
27:09Yes, but then Mr Willison was hired by a water company as it stood trial on 51 counts of sewage
27:16dumping.
27:16How is that not a case of conflict of interest?
27:19Ah, well, very clear rules, which was what I was going to say.
27:23Very clear, clear rules around conflict of interest were put in place as soon as Mr Willison decided to take
27:29up his new job.
27:30So he stepped out of any relevant discussions.
27:34We did everything we could to...
27:35The judge ruled that all criminal activity in that case was masterminded from the top of the company.
27:41So was Mr Willison involved in the decision not to prosecute southern executives?
27:46We can't comment on that.
27:48No, we can't comment.
27:49Yeah, we don't talk about internal meetings.
27:53Well, how many water company executives has the agency prosecuted?
27:58Well, criminal prosecution is quite a high bar.
28:02That's if we had evidence that the offence was serious enough, we wouldn't hesitate to prosecute, but there is no
28:08substantiated evidence.
28:10We've just given you evidence.
28:11But it's not substantiated.
28:13A board sanctioned plan for seven years of continuous dumping was not enough evidence.
28:22Thanks so much.
28:23I've got to touch.
28:24We'll be in touch.
28:25Congratulations, by the way.
28:27Thanks so much.
28:28I hope that goes well.
28:41I'm going to get another one.
28:45You're going to have another Flake 99?
28:48Eileen thinks I've got an obsessive streak on her.
28:51Well, she's not wrong, is she?
28:58The hell was that?
29:00Well, did you think they'd be more grateful for our disclosures about revolving doors?
29:05Did they really think that that was all right?
29:07Working for both of them at the same time?
29:09I think you're taking it personally.
29:10I am.
29:11You know, I mean, for me it's an occupational hazard.
29:13I feel like I've been beaten up.
29:15That's how I feel.
29:16And I've never been beaten up.
29:17We're getting somewhere.
29:18We're making a difference.
29:20We're clearly up against something bigger.
29:41We're between you.
29:42I know, it's all right, but we're currently down.
30:01If you keep getting something bigger.
30:03Oh
30:42Right, so you know, she's not going to be back from football till about seven, so just
30:48tell her to put that in the micro.
30:52You look nice.
30:56What is it?
31:02Yeah.
31:02You know, Tony's got that flat down the Arlander Road, he's not using.
31:10Well, he said that I can stop there for a bit if I want, you know, just for what I'll
31:17do
31:17the Tesco job like.
31:22Yeah, good idea.
31:23Yeah.
31:25Might be better more, isn't it?
31:27Yeah.
31:28Yeah.
31:32I'm going to be late, so.
31:33Yes.
31:39It's all right.
31:45All right.
31:46Yeah.
31:54See ya.
31:55See ya.
32:11You all right, Dad?
32:12You all right, Dad?
32:14I've got your pizza in here if you want it.
32:15I'm not hungry.
32:18I've got a project, so I might just.
32:22All right, yeah.
32:22We'll have it later, shall we?
32:24Yeah.
32:25If we get hungry.
32:26All right.
32:38You all right, Dad?
32:43You all right, Dad?
32:53You've got to look at you.
32:55What's going on, Mum?
33:12You're all right, Dad.
33:14I don't know, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no.
33:14Oh, no, no, no, no.
33:19Yeah, I don't know, I don't know.
33:19Yeah, I don't know.
33:25You're right.
33:25it is we actually think it's um agricultural right off mm-hmm it's almost certainly farm
33:48runoff almost certainly yeah we believe and we do have we do have a responsibility to
33:54report that to the environment agent spills so we'd say um this is due to the farm the farms um
34:03and that
34:03is what has led to this um overspill that's really nice i love that as well that was very good
34:09so
34:09though there have been storm activated overspill the discoloration of the water yes because of
34:18agricultural runoff we are sorry about this and we will do everything in our power to improve the
34:26situation but some of it is not our fault well i think if we can just own it it's not
34:30our fault
34:31exactly i think we just we just own it and farm yeah i can use the hands and i think
34:36that helps
34:37the audience to feel like i'm one of them yeah you very much do fit in as well with one
34:42of them you
34:42know that you you're you're almost one of them yes yes i thought hi biz pair of those wrap around
34:50goggles and a hard hat i hear your frustration i really do smashed it i thought it was amazing
34:58so you know we've been getting a lot of these um sickness reports coming in from the southwest
35:02well they've asked us if we wanted to go to a meeting down there it's kind of a national thing
35:07there's going to be the water company bosses there and i think i mean i think we should go
35:11shouldn't we we've done a huge amount of research at the uk council of water on levels of public trust
35:16in in the water industry and what we've found generally is that levels of public trust are
35:22actually actually pretty high uh no you know if uh well you you might laugh but but guy i i
35:27actually
35:28i do get it there's been a lot of pain there's been a lot of frustration now we have the
35:32only bathing
35:33status river in this country and we have 2 000 people there in the summer with their kids with
35:38fishing nets sitting amongst turds we're all passionate about the environment we're passionate
35:44about water quality it's the driving force behind what we do
35:47have you answered why then my son's been so ill from 2022 after a day on the beach and then
35:55contracted hepatitis a that is the week before we went on our holiday that's the week after in
36:03hospital that's a week later when he's starting to get jaundice and he's starting to get bilirubin
36:09and that that's from something called cholestasis which affects your gallbladder he itched like
36:16crazy these scars they're still around you can't stand without them hurting through school i missed
36:22about properly three four months and even when i was at school um i was like tired i was dropping
36:29to sleep i couldn't remember half the stuff i learned and it took a lot a long time to sort
36:34of build back
36:35up sort of friendship group um and it also led to like a lot of bullying people saying oh you
36:43went in
36:44the water all this dirty water with human pooing it and stuff like that um i used to do a
36:49lot of
36:49farming helping my dad just wipes you out you've got no energy you can't do anything you just had to
36:55stop every feedback that you give us is you know really really important to us i didn't know at the
37:01time but surfers against sewage explained that there was 342 hours of raw sewage that was released
37:08into the beach that i was swimming on this particular strep bacteria entered my bloodstream and started
37:13growing on my heart valve so i had to have a heart replacement i was in hospital for six weeks
37:18i ended up having um open heart surgery the health and well-being of our customers is at the forefront
37:24of what we do and hearing stories like this is incredibly important to us i was in north
37:29lessons will be learned going forwards we can reflect on them going forwards you've had to say
37:33now listen to someone who's worked in the water industry for 40 years of his life
37:38prior to privatization if the infrastructure needed upgrading it got it if it needed bits of
37:43plants to be replaced it got it it was run like a military operation macquarie's come along
37:49god help us asset stripped it sold land sold pumping stations built blocks of flats onto it
37:57and decimated our infrastructure this falls back to the government to renationalize this industry
38:03asap get get rid of the people who have asset strips it strips it of millions of pounds all your
38:13profits all your bonuses keir starmer steve reed the invisible man do your job and renationalize
38:20the water industry well mistakes are made but i i would say this and i'd happily go on the record
38:34i
38:34would drink water out of any tap in the united kingdom sorry would you come to brixham and have
38:40a glass of our water um last last year in may we had an outbreak of cryptosporidium as susan davies
38:48knows it's obviously a privilege and a huge responsibility uh to run a water company and it's
38:56one that i take very very seriously i was poisoned by cryptosporidium in the water i was ill for such
39:01a very long time six months or more my body was attacking itself my immune system was attacking itself
39:06my injuries are life changing what we are committed to is improving step by step and things do go wrong
39:13things go wrong i put my hands up please explain to us why you got a 58 percent pay rise
39:19i don't actually uh set my uh pay i don't actually it's not down to me how much i'm paid
39:27um the amount you're talking about will actually be a cost of living increase yeah yeah you earn 860
39:35grand a year we don't have a choice in our water provider um i come from henley we're in the
39:40thames
39:41region i know ash and peter well how have we arrived in a situation where a privatized water
39:47industry is scamming the public is taking off enormous profits and dividends for shareholders
39:52paying huge bonuses to executives and our children are getting vomiting and diarrhea from doing what
39:58should come naturally we do not trust you not one water company executive has ever been prosecuted
40:04and served prison time quite honestly which they should
40:14there you go sorry sorry sorry sorry yeah yeah i haven't got much time all right river rate
40:25outside swindon the sewage remains exploded it's a crime scene where you've got to get down there
40:31right now before they clear it up mp listen thank you you're a 21 karat key sir yeah so are
40:37you
41:03the river's gone ash i mean that's and it's not coming back
41:19how many do you reckon or killed hundreds thousands thousands of babies definitely
41:33what ash i'm scared that we're running out of time
41:40what do you mean by that that we're running out of time to make a difference
41:46what are you talking about look at this look at this we've got this is
41:48it's the best stuff but nothing's going to happen is it ash what do you mean
41:53in terms of water they're going to make a statement saying that environment is their number one
41:59priority and the agency they're just going to launch an investigation that we'll never hear about
42:06again and that oh well they're acting as though we don't exist so what are you saying
42:14i i don't know how long we've got
42:20we're not going to make a difference there's no time left to make a difference
42:24what are you talking about look at look at this we just shot
42:28but it doesn't matter this is not the time to pack it in but it doesn't matter what we show
42:33them
42:33it doesn't matter i mean we could show them dead bodies floating down the river they still wouldn't
42:37do anything about it would be right we just go back you go and watch some bloody jazz when you
42:44think
42:44you're when you think you're beaten you don't give we're going to the right channels we're doing
42:48the right thing and nothing's coming back and nothing's come back for years what do you want to do
42:56it's exhausting we get nothing back i'm not stopping i can't
43:12go ahead yeah no oh yeah we're on my way
43:32may 2020 subject environment agency complicit in law breaking dear sir james over the past two
43:39years professor peter hammond and i have been documenting chronic offending by thames water
43:44thames have been using our river as a cheap way to carry raw sewage out to sea and making vast
43:50profits doing so the environment agency has been turning a blind eye and misrepresenting facts to the
44:11public
44:13peter
44:16peter peter peter it's the middle of the night what are you doing
44:24i was worried i couldn't sleep worried about what
44:33all the things that all the things that live in the river
44:40you didn't put your hands in it did you
44:45no okay
44:49there's nothing you can do now
44:51i know
44:54i know
44:56okay
44:58so
45:00should we go back to bed
45:01yeah
45:02yeah
45:07you
45:08I don't know.
45:43I don't know.
46:12I don't know.
46:13We have the best quality water since the Industrial Revolution.
46:16The water's turned brown.
46:17From today, we are ending on-site inspections for Cats 3 and 4.
46:22What exactly do you want us to do?
46:25Reuben! Reuben!
46:29We need another whistleblower.
46:30The regulation isn't real.
46:32The government wants us to look like a regulator, but they won't let us do our job.
46:35You have a duty not to disclose confidential information to anyone not authorised to receive it!
47:56You
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