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Dirty Business S01E03 (2026) [Full Movie] [Watch Free Online]Full EP - Full
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00:04I'm not sure if I'm going to go in.
00:06Really?
00:07Yeah.
00:08You'll be fine.
00:09Be cold.
00:10You're drowning.
00:14Or maybe you try it for a bit.
00:15I'll go first.
00:18Looking good.
00:19Looking rough.
00:21Scaredy cat.
00:23I'm not sure.
00:24Surprise, you?
00:49No prints.
00:53Nothing taken or disturbed?
00:57No.
00:58Unfortunately, the blood sample wasn't big enough for the lab to get a full DNA read.
01:05It's disappointing.
01:08Well, I really thought there was enough for a full sample.
01:12Apparently not.
01:14What about the glove mark?
01:15Not enough resolution for them to do anything with.
01:18You know, I took photos of the house right after the break-in.
01:23And nothing was touched?
01:25No.
01:26Or they put everything back in its place, which is what you would do if you were installing a listening
01:31device.
01:31I've applied for warrants to do exactly that.
01:34You're a copper?
01:34Serious Crime Squad.
01:36Covert Surveillance Unit.
01:37Counter-corruption.
01:38I'm innocent.
01:41Well, I mean, as you know, we've done a couple of sweeps.
01:49Nothing.
01:50No, me neither.
01:53So, there's not much more we can do.
01:57Okay.
02:09I'm innocent.
02:12You're a copper.
02:13No.
02:13I'm innocent.
02:20No.
02:23No.
02:24No.
02:25No.
02:25No.
02:26No.
02:27No.
02:27No.
02:28No.
02:35Come on.
02:59You've worked in surveillance, haven't you, for years, so you're telling me you can't actually see if they've got a
03:05new computer or not?
03:06No.
03:08I've done what I can to check, but you just can't tell now.
03:12You see, there's this incognito spyware runs a keylogger in the background, which means they can record every key you
03:18press, every mouse click.
03:19They can see the emails you write, your messages, your passwords, etc., everything.
03:24But they build it so you don't know it's there.
03:26What did the police say?
03:29Well, an officer came out. He took a sample of the blood. There was some blood on the handle downstairs,
03:35and he thought he could see a disposable glove mark in it,
03:38which means that whoever did it wants to make sure they're untraceable.
03:42He did think they could find a DNA result, and then nothing happens.
03:47What do you think this is?
03:49Anything they can find to discredit us?
03:52Something that would look good on the cover of the Daily Mail, for example?
03:56I mean, I can't think of anything that, you know, I mean, um...
04:00Well, you know what it is.
04:01What's that?
04:03It's the Free Jazz.
04:05If that gets out, we're fucked.
04:06Oh, fuck off.
04:08But who would want to discredit us, sir?
04:10I don't know.
04:11Could be a burglar who just got scared and legged it?
04:14Yeah, well, or he could have just seen Jala's Hawaiian Cushions.
04:19Don't say that in front of Jala.
04:20I'm not going to do that, am I? I want to hang on to my balls.
04:24You know, the other day when this happened, the first thing I did was pick up the phone to you.
04:31Yeah, no, I did see it, yeah.
04:33You probably saw it. I hung up.
04:35Just to...
04:36Yeah, I just think that what we need now is we need, um...
04:42We need a whistleblower, don't we?
04:43And we need someone from inside the agency.
04:47And high up.
04:48From the top, yeah.
04:51Eileen said that we must be making a difference.
04:53Did she?
04:54Yeah, she did.
04:55So, come on, let's, um...
04:57That's the point, isn't it?
04:58Yeah, we are.
04:58There's no point doing this unless we make a difference.
05:00No, let's keep going. Let's keep going and let's find that fucking whistleblower.
05:04Right.
05:04June 2019, Sir James Bevan Environment Agency.
05:10Dear Sir James, I'm writing to your office as I'm sure you will know where to direct the question.
05:14October 2019, dear Sir James, I wrote to you to raise concerns about a serious integrity issue involving the agency.
05:23Dear Sir James, 34 days have now passed since I sent you evidence.
05:27I've given up expecting a reply from you.
05:32Dear Ashley.
05:34I am in the receipt of your email to Sir James.
05:41Would you mind coming to our office and would the 19th suit?
05:55Is Sir James not coming?
05:57I'm afraid not.
05:58No, Sir James wouldn't routinely attend meetings at this kind of level.
06:02I'd hoped he'd be here.
06:04He's time, Paul.
06:06He's aware of your work.
06:07Well, we're trying to find out what you're going to do about the illegal sewage overflow at Boughton.
06:14The combined storm overflow.
06:15The combined storm overflow at Burton has shown no detectable effects on the water quality.
06:21The water quality is stable and not deteriorating.
06:24I mean, our data shows very clearly that we have the best quality water since the Industrial Revolution.
06:31The water's turned brown.
06:32Yeah.
06:33It's turned so brown that when it joins the Thames at Newbridge, it makes the Thames look like a Swiss
06:38mountain stream.
06:41The water is brown in places, but that's a natural phenomenon.
06:45It's caused by a geological fault.
06:46A geological fault?
06:48Yeah.
06:49Sorry, a geological fault is millions of years old.
06:53We remember when the water was clear.
06:55No one remembers the good old days before the geological fault.
06:58In the last 12 months since we installed sensors, there's been no evidence of pollution.
07:03Well, that's because you've installed the monitors upstream from the sewage pipes.
07:06Now, is that incompetence or an attempt to cover up a scandal?
07:10No.
07:10No.
07:10The agency would never position a monitor to achieve a particular reading.
07:14We are working extremely hard to transform the environment.
07:16We've improved and protected something like, I think it's 15,000 kilometers of river.
07:22It's like, but you've had 92 complaints from the general public about sewage pollution.
07:27And that's just the wind rush.
07:29I've actually got the breakdown here.
07:32Yeah, yeah.
07:35In 36 of those cases, there was no offence.
07:39And in 39, there was insufficient evidence.
07:44And in 6, we were unable to identify the offender.
07:49What do you mean you couldn't identify the offender?
07:51Why can't you identify the offender?
07:52There's seven sewage works along the wind rush.
07:55They're all run by Thames Water.
07:56I mean, you say you've got insufficient evidence, but we keep giving you the evidence.
08:00All we ever do is give you the evidence, and all we get back is it's under investigation.
08:04And then nothing, nothing, nothing ever happens.
08:09In exceptional circumstances, for example, after heavy rain, the sewage systems are allowed
08:14to overflow.
08:15No.
08:16No, no, no.
08:17You see, that's not the law.
08:18The law is that in all normal climatic conditions, including heavy rainfall, the water companies
08:24have to treat the sewage.
08:25They have to make it safe before they put it back into the river.
08:29The law is a grey area.
08:30No.
08:31No, it's not a grey area with respect.
08:33It's the law.
08:33Sorry, can I?
08:35Sorry.
08:37Thames is that their own data, it shows they stopped treating sewage at Northridge for
08:45more than three months.
08:46Now, they told us that their sensors had broken down, but we think they're lying.
08:54They're lying.
08:55So why would they do that?
08:57Why would they lie to you?
09:12Doors are closed here.
09:18We're Potemkin regulators.
09:22Sorry?
09:25The regulation isn't real.
09:26Well, the government want us to look like a regulator, but they won't let us do our job.
09:32Okay.
09:34When Cameron and Trust gutted the agency, we went from regulating the industry to doing
09:39its bidding.
09:41Do you think we could take your number?
09:43Look, just keep going.
09:47This is going to be the first government in modern history that at the end of its parliamentary
09:52term has less regulation in place than there was at the beginning.
09:56We've now identified those 3,000 regulations that we're going to scrap.
10:00Let's reduce the amount and the burden of regulation strangled by red tape.
10:04Cut back the health and safety monster.
10:06Cut guidance by 80% and we reduce farm inspections by 34,000 every year.
10:12Regulations will go.
10:13None of my ministers could introduce a regulation unless they abolished one at the same time.
10:18Massively reduce the number of rules, laws and regulations that frankly treat all of you
10:23by idiots.
10:27So, really, it's about stripping out as much unnecessary regulation as possible and taking
10:34responsibility for climate change and saying, what more can we do to get us to net zero?
10:41As you know, this is a passion project for Sir James, who feels that we can bring our car
10:48usage down by 70%, yeah, it's, yeah.
10:54So, from next month, we're going to be taking the bold decision to cut back decisively on our
11:00car leases.
11:04Yeah, come on, sorry.
11:07Just like to clarify what you're going to get rid of our cars.
11:12So, it's about reducing the agency's carbon footprint.
11:16Just getting that, yeah.
11:18Go ahead, Hannah.
11:19The cars that we drive to the inspections in.
11:23Right, yeah.
11:24So, self-monitoring and a more desk-based regulation is really, it's really helping us move the needle
11:31on climate change.
11:35But the remaining inspections.
11:39Well, yeah.
11:40How do we get to those without a car?
11:43Yeah.
11:45It's a great question.
11:46It's a really great question.
11:48And we'll take that forward to the next discussion meeting.
11:51Thanks, Hannah.
11:53Yeah, lovely.
11:53Thanks, everyone.
11:54Not easy news to break, is it?
11:56Yeah, surprise, surprise.
11:57Ebby's got something to say.
11:58I know, I know.
11:59But my car...
11:59Everyone's driving cars.
12:00Yeah.
12:01We're the Environment Agency.
12:02Absolutely.
12:02What's wrong with the train?
12:03I'll keep mine, I think.
12:04So, yeah.
12:06Mmm, coffee.
12:06How do I get a coffee?
12:09Does anybody know what we're looking at?
12:12Anybody?
12:14Okay.
12:15Could you tell me what the reactants are?
12:17So, if you move your head even slightly, the vertigo gets more intense?
12:21Yeah.
12:21And the attack's happening maybe twice a week?
12:24About that, yeah.
12:29The good news is that you don't have cancer.
12:32We actually think it's Meniere's.
12:34It's a disease of the inner ear.
12:36The main symptom is acute vertigo episodes, vomiting, tinnitus.
12:43It's a pretty neat fit with your presentation.
12:48They were dumping sewage?
12:50In the water the last time before I got sick.
12:54Right.
12:55You know that from...
12:57The Suffers Against Sewage app?
12:58Okay.
13:01Might that be...
13:02The causes are unclear.
13:04It's post-viral.
13:05This often starts with an ear infection.
13:07You know, they're common in surfers.
13:08Yeah, every surfer I know.
13:13This is a chronic condition.
13:16I'm afraid there's no cure.
13:29This is a chronic condition.
13:33Come on.
13:34This is a chronic condition.
13:39Should we leave the table away so he doesn't hit his table?
13:43Just hold his back. Just to see his own back.
14:08So, by ending on-site inspections into categories 3 and 4, no or low-impact pollution events and doubling down
14:17on the more serious category 1 and 2 incidents, we think we can turn ourselves into a more effective fighting
14:26unit.
14:26Yeah. So, from today, we are ending on-site inspections for cats 3 and 4.
14:32Any questions?
14:34Well, yeah. A category 3 incident can be two kilometres of sewage.
14:43We want you to not inspect, to not spend time on these incidents.
14:49Except that since the water companies have been self-reporting, they almost always only report categories 3s and 4s.
14:59So, they're not actually reporting serious incidents.
15:01And so, if the water companies are only reporting 3s and 4s, and we're no longer allowed to investigate...
15:08So, what exactly are we going to be doing?
15:11I've told the government, you get the regulation you pay for. We no longer have the money to go on
15:16inspecting low-grade pollution events.
15:19We need you to shut down these reports as unsubstantiated or to silently pass them and to not report them
15:26as pollution incidents.
15:28Is that clear?
15:33Yeah. Thank you. Thanks, everyone.
15:35You're on with your day?
15:36Yeah.
15:47We have to fuck.
15:49Fucking wankers.
15:50How are you going to get to fucking work?
15:52Fuck nice.
15:55Horseback.
16:03What time did he call you?
16:05I passed 10 last night.
16:08He said he couldn't miss it.
16:20Oh, my God. Look at him.
16:27Get some shots and we'll call the agency on the way back.
16:37Get some shots and Gigasa.
16:46Come andBack 1.
16:47Got posterior 편anceercression.
16:51Thanks for laughing.
16:55And make money for hours $100 nłamane.
16:56Isn't there anything so weird?
16:56I am sorry.
16:56What time is your office and your home?
16:56You're ready to go back.
18:00What for?
18:02Someone keeps calling up and complaining about the same incident.
18:06It's near the bridge at Hawkrise, so I'm going to go and take a look.
18:11Okay.
18:12A bit of freelance investigation.
18:14A bit of freelance.
18:15And also, it needs to be off the books.
18:17And I need you to promise me not to tell Sophie.
18:21I can't tell Sophie.
18:22You can't tell Sophie?
18:23Obviously not.
18:24Why don't I tell Sophie anything?
18:31Okay.
18:54Hi. Hi, is that, um, is that Justine? Hi, Justine. Um, it's, it's Hannah from the Environment Agency.
19:02Um, listen, it's about the, um, the pollution event at Hawk Rise. Um, it came through the system at a
19:11duration of 1.34 hours, and I'm here now, and it's still going.
19:19Yeah, yeah, I'm, yeah, I'm here now, yeah. The CSO's still discharging untreated sewage. I mean, there's a section of
19:27the river that is covered over with dried sewage.
19:31I mean, there's, there's dead fish. You can see them from the footpath. I mean, you're going to get more
19:35complaints. You need to sort this.
19:42Can you prepare and cook a simple meal unaided?
19:47Yeah, but not when I'm having an attack. Then I can't do anything. I can't, I can't move.
19:54Can you eat and drink unaided?
19:56Yeah, but, again, not when I'm having an attack. Um, and I've been getting the attacks, well, every few days
20:03for the past six months.
20:05But if, if you're not having one of your attacks, can you eat and drink unaided?
20:09Yeah, but...
20:10Yes or no is fine.
20:12Yes.
20:15Can you dress and undress unaided?
20:20It's the same answer.
20:22Moving on to the mobility section of this assessment. Can you plan and follow a journey unaided?
20:30Yeah, but not when I'm having an attack.
20:33Standard move for 200 metres.
20:37Not when I'm having an attack.
20:39You know, can you move around, walk for 200 metres?
20:42Of course I can, but not when I'm having an attack.
20:44Okay. Thank you, Mr Santa.
20:46Your total score for the daily living part of the assessment is zero points.
20:51Your total score for the mobility section is zero points.
20:55When you're not having an attack, you're able to do all the tasks I asked you about.
20:58That's the thing with my condition is that sometimes I can do these things and other times I can't.
21:04And when I can't, I can't, I can't do anything.
21:06No, but I...
21:07Personal independence payment.
21:08I don't know what to do.
21:09If you need further guidance about how to appeal, you can use the web chat to get some help.
21:15If you cannot access the web chat, you can contact the benefits appeal helpline on 0300...
21:21One, two, three...
21:31Hannah.
21:32Oh, shit.
21:32Sorry.
21:32Sorry, I didn't mean to scare you.
21:34Do you have a second?
21:36Can I have a word?
21:36Of course.
21:37Yeah?
21:38Okay.
21:38So I've just got off the phone to Justine Wright Phillips at the water company.
21:42Yeah.
21:43Yeah, she said you called her.
21:45Yeah.
21:45Yeah, I...
21:46Yeah.
21:46Yeah, I did.
21:48Okay.
21:48She said you called her from the site.
21:51Well, I saw that it had been logged on the system for the fifth time and people kept calling
21:55up complaining and nobody was doing anything about it, so I...
21:57But we don't have the revenue to be investigating Category 3.
22:03It's not for Category 3, Sophie.
22:06The river is dried over with excrement.
22:08You can see it from...
22:09Yeah, so that's what I wanted to talk to you about.
22:11So Justine says that the dispersal rate in that area is really high.
22:16Is it?
22:17Yeah, she says there's like a strong current and a high dispersal rate of the untreated
22:20The overflow pipe has been discharging for over 36 hours and it is still going.
22:25All right, that's untreated.
22:25That is the water company's responsibility to report to us.
22:29You know this.
22:32Okay, and Justine says that actually really, because of the high dispersal rate, that it
22:38should come down to a Category 4.
22:41Be a Category 4?
22:43Yes.
22:43Right.
22:43Mm-hmm.
22:46So no impact on the environment, no action needed?
22:50Yes.
22:52Mm-hmm.
22:56Oh, you want me to change it on the system?
22:58Would you?
22:58Could you?
22:59Yeah?
23:00Okay.
23:01Thanks so much.
23:02That's great.
23:03Lovely.
23:12So, you see how well we're doing?
23:14Yeah, of course.
23:14What are you joking?
23:16I'm not joking.
23:17You know SROIC?
23:19No, what's that?
23:21Strategic Review of Incident Charges.
23:23Yeah, it's like what we charge the clients for permits and that.
23:26We don't have clients, Cheryl.
23:28We're an environment agency.
23:29Okay, yes, sorry.
23:30Yes, we don't have clients.
23:32But Sir James has put the prices up, yeah?
23:35And I'm talking like up, up.
23:37Big time.
23:39Well, he's charging the water companies more.
23:41Yep.
23:43Well, surely they've gone down to the government, like, lobbying them, going mad.
23:46Again, the charges are taken down.
23:48No.
23:48Not a peep.
23:49Not a peep.
23:51Sorry, they're just paying it.
23:53We've basically had such a high revenue spike, yeah?
23:57that we are on our way to becoming a client-funded regulator.
24:04Sorry, hold on one minute.
24:05This is going a bit...
24:06So you're saying that the water companies are funding the Environment Agency.
24:12That's what you're...
24:14You see the issues there.
24:16You can't be serious.
24:17A client-funded regulator.
24:22Amazing, isn't it?
24:22How can that even be a thing?
24:25It's a thing.
24:26Well, hold on, because literally, the other day, Sir James said that you get the regulation
24:31that you pay for.
24:32Yeah.
24:32That we haven't got the money to do the investigations that we used to do.
24:37Nobody's paying for them.
24:38Okay.
24:38That's your area, isn't it?
24:40I mean, all I know is that we have got more cash than we've ever had before.
24:47Just making conversation.
24:51I've got the job.
24:53Hostman?
24:54Mm-hmm.
24:54No?
24:54Yeah.
24:55Did you?
24:55Yeah.
24:57Yeah, really good timing.
25:00Uh-huh.
25:01Because I did two pregnancy tests this morning.
25:06What?
25:06And, yeah, I'm pregnant.
25:08What?
25:09Yeah.
25:10Pregnant.
25:10No.
25:11Yeah.
25:12Yeah.
25:13I sort of just had a funny feeling and then, yeah, did one test, two lines, and then I did
25:19another test and it said two lines for someone.
25:21I was like, fuck.
25:32I'm Susan Davey.
25:35I'm Susan Davey.
25:35I am the CEO of Southwest Water.
25:37So, basically, the wet weather events put a strain on our Victorian networks.
25:43And unfortunately, we have a Victorian sewage system, which we have inherited, and that
25:49means things do go wrong.
25:51How do you say Victorian sewage network?
25:53How do you say Victorian sewage network?
25:5312 percent.
25:5412?
25:5512 percent?
25:56What's 12 percent?
25:5812 percent of the sewage system is Victorian.
26:01What do they tell you?
26:02That the whole of the system was Victorian, so that meant that the investment would be
26:07so high that it'd be impossible to actually fix it all.
26:11Bollocks.
26:12Should I tell you what stopped it?
26:14When privatization came in, they just stopped spending.
26:17After the war, they kept upgrading.
26:19Then after privatization came in, they just stopped.
26:23Not just Thames, all of them.
26:26Six percent new plants is privatization.
26:29Six percent?
26:30Six percent.
26:31Is that all?
26:31You know, it'd be good if we could maybe come and visit one of the works.
26:35I don't know about that.
26:36Well, I'll have to see, lads, honestly, because even just doing this, I feel a bit nervous.
26:42Fucking London Stadium.
26:43That's not a proper stadium.
26:44Fucking massive.
26:46Upton Park.
26:46Now, that was a proper stadium, mate.
26:48London Stadium is too big.
26:49You need fucking binoculars.
26:50Do you know what I mean?
26:51Yeah.
26:52Sorry, Pete.
26:52Did you want to see an EDM?
26:54Oh, yes.
26:54Yes, that's right.
26:55Well remembered.
26:56So this is an event duration monitor.
26:59Now, we fitted one of these on every sewage pipe in England.
27:03In 2012, the coalition government, they ordered all the water companies to record how much
27:09time they spend dumping raw sewage.
27:12These little units, they measure how much poo goes into the river by hours.
27:16Management have been dragging their feet for eight years now.
27:19But we're finally getting most of it in now.
27:22And the agency, they publish the numbers?
27:25They have to by law.
27:26They're not going to like it, but tough shit.
27:30EDMs.
27:31Yes.
27:34So we are finalizing plans for the statutory publication of the EDM numbers.
27:44As you know, there have been some technical delays, but it looks like they're almost ready.
27:52And they're going to come as a bit of a shock.
27:56The data is going to show that the water companies discharged raw sewage 400,000 times in 2020.
28:06That's 1,100 times a day for a total of 3.1 million hours.
28:17It's a bit of a shocker.
28:18Can I just say that since operator self-monitoring, we've had to rely on the water companies to report back
28:26to us.
28:27I think that the key here is that this doesn't get framed as a failure of regulation.
28:32That would be quite wrong.
28:35And I think managing comms on this is going to be key.
28:38And we are working actively with the water companies to bear down on the problem.
28:46But that's 1,100 criminal offenses a day.
28:51Well, that's actually, that's debatable because that depends on the terms of the permits and the circumstances around each spill.
28:57Yeah, and we know the legislation permits discharging after heavy rainfall and so on.
29:02No, no, it doesn't.
29:04Sorry, Hannah.
29:05The law doesn't say that you can just dump sewage after heavy rain.
29:09It says that in all normal, climatic and seasonal circumstances, the water companies have to treat the sewage, not just
29:16dump it.
29:17But it's not the agency's job to adjudicate legal matters.
29:20I mean, this is actually a matter for the courts.
29:23No, no, no.
29:24This is, this is our job.
29:25It's our job to enforce the law.
29:28Yeah.
29:29That's what we're here to do.
29:35Can you, um, you...
29:37Did you want to...
29:37No, no, you, you finish off here, Sophie.
29:43So we've identified the problem and now we work on the problem.
29:45Yeah.
29:46Which is reframing and owning the narrative.
29:48Yeah, we, we, we don't want this to get misconstrued as some sort of failure on our part because it
29:52just isn't.
29:52Thanks.
29:52Thanks so much.
29:54Thanks.
29:56Cool.
29:57Lovely.
29:57Thanks, guys.
29:58Thanks so much.
29:59By the way, um, so, I've heard you're going to give evidence in Parliament.
30:05Yes.
30:06Yes.
30:06Amazing.
30:07Yeah, I think you're bad.
30:09What does that mean, thinking about it?
30:11He's, uh, he's nervous.
30:13No, I'm not nervous.
30:14He's nervous.
30:15No, it's not that I'm nervous.
30:16And I want to do it.
30:17It's just difficult.
30:19Pete.
30:19Don't, don't worry about it.
30:20I'll do.
30:21Yeah.
30:21We're counting on you.
30:22We are really counting on you.
30:23And you can explain it in a scientific way.
30:25You're going to come across brilliantly.
30:26They're going to believe you, mate.
30:28Well, it, it's, it's not really as simple as that.
30:31I mean, the boys from Ogden called me earlier, right?
30:34Yeah.
30:34They told me that they dumped two billion litres of sewage in the Thames over two days.
30:40Environment agency haven't got a Scooby.
30:42Did they send you the data?
30:43I've got the data, yeah.
30:44Can you send that to us?
30:45I will send it to you.
30:46We're not going to let you down.
30:48Exactly.
30:48Please, you can do this.
30:50Come on, Pete.
30:51That's all right, no.
30:52You're a legend, mate.
30:53Come on.
31:11You're a legend, mate.
31:23It's from water companies that we have yet recorded.
31:54I'm an environment officer at the agency.
31:56I investigate sewage pollution.
32:01When I first joined, it wasn't a job to get rich on.
32:07I could see I was, I was making a difference.
32:12Corporations want to make money.
32:14We make sure that they don't poison the rivers doing it.
32:16That we could investigate, prosecute, whatever it took.
32:22But then they told the companies that they could regulate themselves.
32:27That's a praise of self-monitoring.
32:29Exactly.
32:31Then came the Cameron cuts, then the trust cuts.
32:35They laid off investigators, slashed prosecutions.
32:38I mean, they even took our cars off of us so we couldn't visit pollution sites.
32:42So all these cuts meant you couldn't do your job properly?
32:46That's not it.
32:49In 2021, Sir James hiked the prices the water companies paid for their permits.
32:55It was called charge-funded regulation.
32:58We get 96 million from the government.
33:01We are now pulling in 411 million from charges.
33:07All these cuts, they're just a smokescreen.
33:10We're swimming in cash.
33:13I am doing this because I know that it is wrong.
33:16And it has ruined my whole working life.
33:23Good luck.
33:37Right.
33:40Fucking hell.
33:42What should we do?
33:43Well, first we read them.
33:46And then I think we should call some journalists.
33:50The Environment Agency has refused to comment on whether agency directors
33:55currently hold shares in UK water companies.
33:58The agency claimed it would break data protection laws
34:02if it disclosed the information.
34:03Environment Agency chiefs secretly held a series of private dinners
34:07with water company bosses at the Royal Automobile Club in central London.
34:11Documents released under the Freedom of Information Act
34:14showed the meetings were held to discuss how to quell public anger
34:18over sewage spending.
34:19As the sewage scandal deepens, Environment Agency CEO Sir James Bevan
34:24has been called to give evidence to a parliamentary committee.
34:27Well, we need to talk about what we say in public
34:29and the responsibilities we have.
34:33You have a duty not to openly criticise or discredit the organisation in the media or on social media,
34:42or to disclose confidential information to anyone not authorised to receive it.
34:51If your comments, inside or outside work, impact on the agency's reputation
34:55by making derogatory comments about the organisation, or your managers,
35:00or you make comments that bring the organisation into disrepute,
35:04you may be subject to disciplinary action.
35:08And in more serious cases, dismissal.
35:28I don't think I want to do this.
35:30You'll be fine.
35:32Need the toilet?
35:34I'm all right.
35:35I need a bloody toilet.
35:37Do you want a pie?
35:38What does that mean?
35:43Well, my garden is an island which the Windrush wraps around.
35:52I've watched it closely for 18 years, and I watched the water turn brown.
35:58I led a team of scientists using a machine learning analysis
36:03of two sewage treatment works run by Tent Walter.
36:07One of those works, the Environment Agency, said over 10 years
36:12that only two pollution incidents have been reported.
36:16Our machine learning analysis showed hundreds of illegal spills.
36:25More than 300 lasted 24 hours,
36:29and some longer than 10 days,
36:34and some for a month.
36:37Have you shown this evidence to the Environment Agency?
36:40Well, yeah, I've shown the evidence many times.
36:44What usually happens is that they...
36:47they say that they show a sign of interest,
36:50but then nothing happens.
36:54We work very closely with Professor Hammond of Windrush against sewage pollution.
37:01We have a regular and very fruitful dialogue with him.
37:05You've worked closely with Professor Hammond.
37:09He and Ashley Smith sent you at least 13 emails
37:14detailing evidence of illegal sewage dumping.
37:17He published five evidence reports documenting water company criminality,
37:23all of which were sent to you or your senior colleagues.
37:26They invited you to come and look at the river in 2019,
37:31and the following year sent you an email with the heading,
37:36Environment Agency Complicit in Law Breaking.
37:44They never heard back.
37:46You never once replied in five years.
37:51How did you manage to work so closely with Professor Hammond
37:54when you never once spoke to him?
37:55At the Thames Water Modern Treatment Works,
37:59there was a spill
38:01of 240 Olympic swimming pools of sewage
38:06in a single day.
38:08The existing monitoring failed to pick that up.
38:11Now, why was that?
38:13There will always be times when something happens,
38:17usually accidentally.
38:18But if we find that a water company has breached its permit,
38:24we will take appropriate action.
38:26Does appropriate action include prosecuting water company executives?
38:30Prosecution is a very high bar,
38:32but where we think that's appropriate,
38:37we wouldn't hesitate.
38:38Did you prosecute in this case?
38:40No.
38:42Have you ever prosecuted any water company executives?
38:45No, but if we thought the evidence warranted it,
38:50we wouldn't hesitate.
38:53Last year, you told this committee
38:54that you became aware of sewage dumping in May 2021.
38:58Yes.
38:59But three weeks after that,
39:01you told the committee that the water companies were improving
39:03and that more of them were getting four out of four stars.
39:08Why were you telling the committee that the water companies were doing a four-star job?
39:15Well, you've quoted everything I said.
39:20I think I stand by everything I said.
39:23I think you'll find them mutually consistent.
39:28The agency's job is to make sure the water companies obey the criminal law,
39:34but it doesn't do it,
39:35and the water companies do whatever they want.
39:37The alleged crimes of their directors are never prosecuted.
39:43They've built criminality into their business models
39:47because pollution is highly profitable
39:49and repeat offending has no consequences.
39:53Therefore, in the light of the remarkable absence
39:56of any counter-corruption measures,
39:58we demand an investigation into the Environment Agency.
40:04The key test for me on regulation...
40:07Less regulation.
40:08Is it something that enables the builders, not the blockers?
40:11Cut guidance by 80%.
40:13We've also got to look at regulation.
40:15Regulations will go...
40:17And where it is needlessly holding back the investment...
40:19Reduce the amount and the burden of regulation...
40:22Rip up the bureaucracy that blocks investment.
40:25Northumbria and Mortar recorded 30.1 spills per overflow
40:28over the course of 2023.
40:30280,000 hours and change in total.
40:35The chief executive, Heidi Mottram,
40:38received a bonus of £234,000 that year.
40:43Why did you take football tickets from the parent company?
40:47Well, I didn't.
40:49OK.
40:50C.K. Hutchins Holdings owns 75% of Chung Kong Infrastructure Holdings,
40:54the owner of Northumbrian Water.
40:56And you declared £2,000 in football tickets and hospitality.
40:59On that occasion, there was nobody from a water company
41:03that was involved in offering those tickets.
41:05There was nobody from a water company at that event.
41:08Well, I wouldn't have known that.
41:10They weren't present.
41:11Why didn't you know you should have known that?
41:11You said that these sort of people
41:13should potentially be in the dock
41:15if they have been found to break the rules.
41:17You took £2,000 in tickets and hospitality
41:20for a football match from bosses linked
41:22to that company that polluted that water.
41:24Why should people in Northumbria
41:26think that you're fit for your job?
41:28Well, I certainly wouldn't have known that.
41:29And judge me by what I did.
41:30Why not?
41:30Judge me by what I did.
41:31That is what you did.
41:44Environment Minister Steve Reid
41:46is pursuing legal action
41:48against a group of anglers
41:49trying to restore the ecosystem of their local river
41:52on the grounds that cleaning up individual rivers
41:56is administratively unworkable.
41:59Concerns have been raised
42:00about the number of leading labour figures
42:02with links to lobbying firms
42:03working for water companies.
42:05Among the invited guests
42:06at the government's international investment summit
42:09was Macquarie Bank.
42:10Described as the vampire kangaroo by critics,
42:14Macquarie presided over the near collapse of Thames Water,
42:17leaving it £10 billion in debt
42:19after having illegally dumped
42:21billions of litres of raw sewage.
42:29Cluck, cluck, cluck, cluck, cluck, cluck, cluck, cluck, cluck, cluck, cluck, cluck, cluck.
42:40Reuben?
42:48I know I can't be left alone with her.
42:54Cluck, cluck, cluck, cluck, cluck, cluck, cluck.
42:54Privatised water is a better deal than nationalised water.
42:58Come on, Cluck, cluck.
42:59That the water privatisation, I believe,
43:02will go very successfully indeed.
43:04That will go very successfully indeed.
43:07And perhaps therefore we have better wait and see
43:09so that we can contemplate in the light of the facts.
43:12How did it come to this?
43:16How did it happen that England is the only place in the whole world
43:24whose water system is wholly privatised?
43:29That our seas and our rivers are full of shite?
43:35I just feel like we're trying to bring down England's biggest organised crime
43:43syndicate, I mean they're not the mafia, these water companies, they're not a drugs cartel
43:48but they do dump sewage a thousand times a day and almost all of those are illegal
43:56and the cash they've accumulated, 145 billion pounds since privatisation
44:04and they've got that because they seem to have built criminality into their business models
44:11so they are like an organised crime syndicate
44:16and the CEOs and the owners are like crime bosses
44:21I mean they don't murder people, obviously, they're not assassins
44:28but me and Peter are sitting here waiting for these crime lords to put things right
44:36and if we leave them to their own devices
44:40they never will
44:43they never will
44:45We've put the things that we own and care about together
44:51we've put them into the hands of financial speculators
44:54whose job it is, is just to make money
44:58we need to put the people who care in charge
45:02We'll be there
45:04We've put the people who care about together
45:05we need to make money
45:21and ourkov
45:22I don't know.
45:59I don't know.
46:22I don't know.
46:57I don't know.
47:29I don't know.
47:58I don't know.
48:26I don't know.
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