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Dirty Business S01E01 [Full Movie] [Watch Free Online]Full EP - Full
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00:12Privateized water is a better deal than nationalized water.
00:17That the water privatization, I believe, will go very successfully indeed, that will go very
00:24successfully indeed, and perhaps therefore we have better wait and see so that we can
00:29quantificate in the light of the fact.
00:51Lewis! Lewis! What did I tell you about that seaweed? Do not throw it!
01:01Are you hungry?
01:05Ice cream! No!
01:07We just got here, you wanna? Yeah, we'll get it on the way back to the chalet, alright?
01:11Yeah, we'll get it back now. It's dead, isn't it?
01:13I did promise you, I will, I promise.
01:24It was way through. Heather, stop!
01:27What?
01:29Heather, I told you to stop, didn't I?
01:33Do you think that's poo?
01:34Of course, it's not poo.
01:39It wasn't poo.
01:41Love, don't come in!
01:43Don't come in like that!
01:45Can I have four? Shall I go?
01:46Go as far as you can!
01:49Wash it off, scrubby!
01:52You what?
01:53Scrubby!
01:53Hey, Heather!
01:54Have I got it?
01:55Down, you think?
01:56No, you are!
01:57Down, isn't that?
01:58Is it up her?
02:00Yeah, I think so.
02:01Get a towel.
02:02Yeah, get a drawer.
02:03Me?
02:04We've got a smelly little mermaid!
02:06It smells, that!
02:08Hi, hey!
02:09Hello!
02:09That's Hickory.
02:10Yeah!
02:11Tell the other one, what about that one?
02:13No.
02:14No?
02:14Oh, look at that!
02:29It was quite remarkable, really, that with most of the fresh water fish burning,
02:35It was just on this stretch, really seriously, that was including the chub.
02:39The chub came later, of course.
02:42They're gone.
02:43What, the chub?
02:44Well, the chub, the barbell, the heels, everything.
02:48Well, yes, I mean, the water's brown.
02:53You don't really think about the colour when you see it every day.
03:00I mean, the brown here just seems normal.
03:03Yes, sir.
03:04Would Eileen still do that water vole register?
03:08No.
03:08No, that's so.
03:09No, that's right.
03:14I mean, I remember when I first came here, it was crystalline, wasn't it?
03:40You never talk about your work.
03:42Well, I'd often, you know, it's part of the training.
03:46It's not sort of, you know, dinner conversation.
03:48Well, you know, you're tired now.
03:48It's not like I'm a Russian spy, am I?
03:51It's not like I'm, you know, not working for Putin, am I?
03:55That makes me wonder.
03:56Now, why would you say that?
03:57Well, you investigated Ben Coppers, wasn't it?
04:00Yeah, 25 years.
04:01Well, come on, but 25 years you must have, you must have some stories, wasn't you?
04:06Not really.
04:08Why don't you have the game pie?
04:09I don't like game pie.
04:10Shall we get some mixed greens?
04:11No.
04:12I'm just having the soup and the crusty bread that sounds nice.
04:17No, no, no.
04:18That's right, yes.
04:20There will have been some minor discoloration in one or two sections of the river.
04:27There's been a discharge from the Burford Works.
04:31A discharge?
04:32Discharge of what?
04:34Untreated sewage.
04:35Yeah, legally they're allowed to spill after heavy rainfall.
04:40So they can, they can, they can just do that, can't they?
04:43That's what you said.
04:44They're allowed to dump untreated sewage into the river right after heavy rain.
04:50But that can't be right, because it rains all the time.
04:54Well, heavy rain, you said.
04:55I don't remember any heavy rain, do you?
04:57You know, I'm going to write to Thames Water and ask how many times they've put sewage into the river.
05:01Well, they're not going to tell you that.
05:03Oh, yeah, yeah, they've got to.
05:04What's the law?
05:06Dear Mr. Smith, no untreated sewage has been discharged into the river Windrush for the past three years.
05:13Untreated sewage mixed with treated sewage has been discharged 240 times.
05:18Kind regards.
05:19When did that come in?
05:20When did it come in that you could put untreated sewage into the river per se?
05:25I don't see how putting any kind of pathogens into the river could possibly be allowed. I mean, people are
05:31swimming in there.
05:33Dear Mr. Smith, in response to your request for information, please find attached the documents below.
05:39Kind regards.
05:40Wankers.
05:41This must be like one of your cases, mustn't it? All this? When you used to be a detective?
05:48No.
05:49But, you know, poisonous stuff in the river and we're not being warned about it? That'd be a scandal.
06:08It's a tummy bug. 48 hour thing. Plenty of liquids. I'll give you some anti-sickness tablets just to stop
06:15the vomiting.
06:15Okay?
06:19Hey, darling.
06:20Oh, shit. How many was it?
06:21The doctor said you got to take your medicine now.
06:24See?
06:26Close your eyes if you want, ma'am. Yeah, keep them close, then you go.
06:31Well, exactly.
06:33No, they said treated sewage mixed with untreated sewage 240 times.
06:37Yeah.
06:50This is free jazz, is it?
06:53Oh, um, no, it's not free jazz. It's, uh, intemporary jazz. And so they like free jazz.
06:58Right.
06:59And people pay money to listen to them.
07:01She's just come round to piss me off.
07:04No.
07:05I'm gonna show you something.
07:06Look at this.
07:07So, uh, what is this? So this is, uh, is this a reply from Thameswater?
07:12They're drowning me in numbers.
07:13Oh, I can see that.
07:14I mean, how are you supposed to make anything of that crap?
07:17Well, maybe, maybe that's what they're banking on.
07:19There's a needle in there somewhere, just, you know, go through the haste to find it.
07:23You're the Oxford professor of mathematics?
07:26No, computational biology. It's not, um...
07:29Still math.
07:30It's not machine learning, actually.
07:32So what's that like, AI?
07:33I know you're gonna take the piss, but it's, it's a bit like free jazz.
07:36Oh!
07:38Depressed and un-pointless?
07:39Uh, no, no, there's rules.
07:41So there's a kind of order beneath the, the chaos.
07:46Um, and you've gotta listen really hard, uh, for the patents.
07:49Why don't you just email me these and I'll, I'll take a look.
08:02Oh, no, no.
08:05Ah, no!
08:06No, no, no, no, no, no!
08:14Ah, no, no!
08:16Oh, no, no, no...
08:23These, what you've given me, they're flow numbers.
08:26They track the sewage coming into the works and the rate of which is treated
08:30so it's safe to go back into the river.
08:33But there's something weird about this.
08:37Yeah?
08:38What?
08:38Well, here, look.
08:40Now, on the 27th of December,
08:43the flow of treated effluent coming out of the works just stops.
08:48It just stops completely.
08:49Right, what do you mean it stops?
08:51The flow, it just stops.
08:52There's no treated effluent going back into the river.
08:56So, two days after Christmas, the people of Burford stop going to the toilet?
09:01No, no, see, this is it.
09:03Because the raw sewage is still going into the works,
09:07but there's nothing coming out.
09:11Now, that's just not right.
09:15So, what do we do?
09:17I don't know. I'll go back to them and say, give us a bit more detail.
09:20Is that Ashley and Peter?
09:21Yes, yes, yes.
09:22Well, thanks so much for taking my call.
09:24It's Commander Aylard here.
09:26External Affairs and Sustainability at Thames.
09:30Richard, lovely to speak with you.
09:31Listen, I thought, well, why not get on your dog on the phone?
09:33Well, we appreciate your calling. Thank you.
09:35Not at all. Having our feet held to the fire like this is the thing that keeps us focused.
09:38Yeah, we've been asking about this anomaly in the flow data.
09:43On the 27th of December, there's no treated effluent going back into the river.
09:49Yeah.
09:49Nobody seems to be able to explain why that is.
09:51It's taken too long to get to the bottom of this.
09:54I've had to put some rockets up a few jacksies, frankly.
09:58Turns out the flow meters at Burford were on the blink, heavy rain.
10:04The sewage flow was normal, but the sensors weren't generating any data.
10:10Safe to assume the people at Burford did not stop discharging.
10:17The measurements were temporarily interrupted.
10:20It's weird.
10:22And we'd like to invite you on a tour of the Burford works.
10:27It's just strange, isn't it, that all of the sensors stopped working at that one point.
10:33We can't think of any other explanation, frankly, but, you know.
10:36I won't be there, regrettably, but Leonie will be there, and you'll be in pretty good hands.
10:40You know, of course we'd like to do more,
10:42but the challenge is that Burford's sewers are basically Victorian.
10:46Does anyone actually work here?
10:48It's an unmanned facility.
10:50Doubt should be unpeopled, really, shouldn't it?
10:53Do we have unpeopled works in Victorian times?
10:56Good one, no.
10:57But we do have a state-of-the-art network of sensors
11:01which track all the treated fluid and effluent through the works.
11:05So nobody works here?
11:09The sensors automatically transmit data to our Waste Operation Control Centre in Reading 24 hours a day.
11:16Right.
11:17Oh, that's what we call the telemetry.
11:20And what happens if something breaks down?
11:23Oh, so our works are serviced by a team of mobile engineers.
11:27If a piece of kit malfunctions, a trigger will censor an alarm,
11:32and an engineer is dispatched within two hours.
11:34Right.
11:36Oh, in here is where the engineer's logbooks live.
11:42They keep a record of anything that happens in one of these.
11:45But stuff up here, this is the really exciting part.
11:47So this is all the live, real-time data being uploaded from the plants.
11:52Yes, I can see it's quite extensive, isn't it?
11:55You can see the information coming through, can't you?
11:59Mm, yeah.
12:00It's funny, because, like, you know, all the data's being pumped out, you can see it,
12:04but actually no-one's looking at it.
12:05You could save a bit of electricity there, couldn't you?
12:08What's that over there?
12:09You've got, um, sort of, cafe?
12:11No, that is our dedicated break-out zones.
12:14You know, for teas, coffees, relaxation, um, yeah.
12:18It's inviting, inviting, isn't it?
12:20Yeah, no, it's nice.
12:20I like it.
12:21It's just nobody's here to enjoy the tea, aren't you?
12:23Oh, no, no.
12:24Well, thank God.
12:25That would mean something was going wrong.
12:28All right, thank you.
12:29Great.
12:31Yeah, great.
12:32Oh, sorry.
12:33There's a hole there.
12:34Did anyone mention that we'd been invited to the town hall in Burford?
12:38The commander wants us all there.
12:39It's really exciting, actually.
12:41You know, we think it's important that we hold our hands up when mistakes are made.
12:48God, did you see her face?
12:52Like, you do it like.
12:54I can't believe it.
12:56And we can ask for all the telemetries, you know, they've got to give it to us.
12:59That's, that's, that's hundreds of thousands of days at points, and everything that goes
13:04on in the works.
13:05Right, right.
13:05Just try not to get too excited.
13:07Well, I'm just saying.
13:10I'm just saying.
13:11Calm down.
13:16Okay, have you been giving her plenty of liquids?
13:19Yes.
13:20Been keeping her warm?
13:21Yes.
13:22Did everything you said.
13:24Okay.
13:24And are there any more symptoms?
13:26Yes.
13:28She's been bleeding from her backside, Doctor.
13:30I'm calling an ambulance.
13:36So, look, I've got the telemetry for Burford, and I've deciphered the engineer's handwriting.
13:4427th of December, engineer's name is Michael Lazarus.
13:51It turns out here that at eight minutes past five, on the morning of the 27th, the alarm
13:57got triggered at the works, and the communications had failed.
14:02But it must have been intermittent, because at eight minutes past six, the centre got a message
14:08to say that both the main inlet pumps had failed.
14:14Then, at 16 minutes past eight, another alarm was triggered.
14:20The storm tank was overflowing.
14:23And that's when the dumping started.
14:27So, the pumps have packed up.
14:29The storm tank's overflowing.
14:31You've got three alarms sounding.
14:33Obviously, they dispatched an engineer.
14:36Not for five and a half hours.
14:43Wet pumps one and two, both failed.
14:45Returned liquor pump, failed.
14:47Balancing tank, fall.
14:48Untreated sewage tank, fall.
14:50Effluent chamber, flooded.
14:54Don't leave this shit.
15:01Storm tank's filled to the top.
15:03All the sewage is flushing into the river.
15:14Returned liquor pump, reset.
15:16Might fail again.
15:19The hull's just gonna hold.
15:22Trying my best here.
15:25Everything's failing.
15:26He did what he could to patch things up.
15:28And by then, it's been dumping sewage into the windrush for over five hours.
15:33Yeah, and we know.
15:35We know that there wasn't any heavy rainfall, like Aylard said.
15:39Because it didn't even rain on that day.
15:41Yeah.
15:41And the oxidation tank failed on the 28th.
15:45The rotation arms packed up on the 29th.
15:49Burford was falling apart.
15:51It couldn't handle all the sewage it was taken in, so it was just flushing everything into the river.
15:55And I feel that Mickey's the kind of person who's in the habit of telling the truth, don't you?
16:01Yeah.
16:02What about Commander Aylard?
16:13The results are back from the lab.
16:16It's quite serious.
16:18Heather has been infected with E. coli.
16:22The most aggressive strain, 0157.
16:29We're going to keep her comfortable, keep an eye on her, and hope that it passes through.
16:35It's possible that the virus could attack Heather's kidney functions, which might have serious consequences for other organs.
16:51This was really about a temporary malfunction to the alarm, we think at least partly caused by the heavy rainfall
16:58that day,
16:59rather than any actual interruption to the treatment process.
17:02So, what I'd like to do...
17:04Sorry, can I say a few words, Commander?
17:08Yes, of course.
17:09There was no heavy rain.
17:12In fact, it didn't rain at all.
17:16If you'll bear with me, what I have here is the engineer's logbooks.
17:22The engineer is called Michael Lazarus.
17:25And what you can see from Mr. Lazarus' logs is that the alarms were, in fact, functioning as normal.
17:33They were triggered as soon as the flooding began.
17:36But the thing is, Mr. Lazarus was not dispatched to the works for more than five hours.
17:42The plant was falling apart.
17:44It couldn't treat the sewage it was taking in.
17:47And so it was just pumping it all out directly into the river.
17:55Well, thanks so much, Ash.
17:57And to you, Peter.
17:59It does look as though I've been misinformed.
18:02And I intend to get to the bottom of this.
18:05And I'll be putting my thumb on whoever...
18:08So what are you going to do about what these two gentlemen have said?
18:10What's going to happen now?
18:11I think that we are both shocked, absolutely shocked, to hear that information because we were...
18:18You've said one thing.
18:19They've actually backed up with evidence something completely the opposite.
18:24Our river.
18:25You're just dumping it and just covering everything up.
18:28And making money.
18:29And what's the long-term problems for the wildlife, the fish and the birds?
18:34What's happening with those?
18:35The ecological welfare of our rivers and our waterways is something that we find incredibly important.
18:42And what are you doing?
18:43So that's why.
18:43Nothing.
18:45You're polluting our water.
18:46I wouldn't even let my dog swim in the river now.
18:48That's disgusting.
18:49It is our highest, highest priority that we will be fixing this as soon as possible.
18:54I can assure you, from all of us at Thames Water, we are working night and day.
19:00I do.
19:02I do as well.
19:02Thank you, sir.
19:03Thank you for your honor.
19:05Thank you very much for the meeting.
19:08Shall we go outside?
19:10Yes.
19:11I think he just lied to us.
19:13The stress of the dams took to our faces.
19:15Oh, no.
19:16He said he was misinformed.
19:18Princess Diana's Equary.
19:19What is that, by the way?
19:21I don't know.
19:23It helps when people lie.
19:25It's how you know they've got something to hide.
19:42I mean, it's ammonia we need to keep an eye out.
19:45That's going to read high right after they've dumped the sewage.
19:48Fuck me.
19:50It is actually like one of your cases, isn't it?
19:53Not really, no.
19:55It's more real-time monitoring of the river.
19:58And the outflow pipes as well.
20:02So the question is, is Burford acting alone?
20:07Because there's, what, seven?
20:09Seven, is it?
20:10Seven works along the Windrush.
20:13So we need to know if Burford is an outlier, you know, single failing plant.
20:17Like a lone assassin, just killing everything that lives in the water.
20:22Or are they more like Burford?
20:24Well, I mean, I suppose I could order the telemetry and get it for all of them.
20:37Dear EIR team, I would have a great call if you could supply all the telemetry exchanges
20:45between the control centre and the works on North Beach, Church, Hambro, Whitney, and Arnold.
20:54I also see me, Professor Peter Hammond.
21:05I can't find a pulse.
21:10Is there nothing?
21:13That's weird.
21:20No, I can't feel anything.
21:22No.
21:23Somebody call for help?
21:24Help, no.
21:25Can we get a doctor in here, please?
21:33What have you done to your finger?
21:34Oh, I don't know.
21:37I woke up this morning and it was like that.
21:39It feels a bit weird.
21:40Well, do you think that Giles should take a look at that?
21:42I mean, she is a chemist, isn't she?
21:43I know she's a chemist, don't I?
21:45Well.
21:46Okay, so you know that they sent me all these data flows from the works of Whitney and at
21:50Church, Hambro.
21:51Yeah.
21:52But what I've done, I've converted the program that I built for the fetal alcohol kits.
22:02What happened there was that the mothers, they were being paid in wine, so most of their children
22:07had fetal alcohol syndrome.
22:10What I did was that I took thousands of photographs of these FAS kits and so by showing the machine,
22:20hundreds of these faces of these unborn children, we taught it to spot the features of fetal alcohol syndrome in
22:26the womb.
22:34So when the program sees it in a scan, then it can tell the doctor straight away and then they
22:40can stop helping the mother and the kid.
22:46Now, Burford does most of his heavy lifting during early morning, just before everyone goes to work.
22:51And then again in the evening, when they come back home, so you can see the flows of treated effluent
22:59hitting the daily peaks and troughs.
23:01Now, that's when the penny dropped.
23:03The thing is, that is just like the contours on a baby's face.
23:11By showing the machine nine years of this flow data, I've taught it to recognize when the usual flows, they
23:20don't, they don't show off.
23:22When the everyday flows are missing, well, they're not treating the sewage.
23:27And if they're not treating the sewage, there's nowhere for it to go.
23:31Except?
23:32Into the river.
23:34Except into the river.
23:55We've decided to transfer Heather to the Bristol Hospital for Children.
24:00It's one of the best in the country.
24:02They'll be able to look after her there.
24:05It's getting bigger, I think.
24:07Have you been in the river again?
24:09Yeah, yeah.
24:10Did you have any cuts?
24:12Yeah, yeah.
24:14I prick my finger and thawed when I was sitting at the camera.
24:17Before? After you went to the river?
24:19Before.
24:20Right.
24:22So if there's a pathogen in the water, you've given it direct entry into your bloodstream.
24:30Is that bad?
24:31It's bad, you muppet.
24:33You need antibiotics.
24:36You know, a lot of sewage has drugs in it.
24:39And if they mix with bacteria, then the bacteria becomes antibiotic resistant, which means that
24:47the antibiotics might not work on you.
24:49So they might have to try different types of medication on you.
24:53Oh, God.
24:55Hold on.
24:59So what are you doing?
25:01I'm just drawing on you.
25:04Why?
25:04Because if it gets bigger, then we will know.
25:08That looks worse now.
25:11So that's where she drew the marker, and that's how much bigger it's got in, like, two days.
25:16Bloody hell.
25:16And that is just from putting your hand in the river.
25:19Yeah.
25:20I'm an idiot.
25:20Well, we know that.
25:22But, I mean, if it's doing that to your hand, just think about what it's doing to all the creatures
25:27that live in the river.
25:27Exactly.
25:28What was it you wanted to show me?
25:30Oh, yeah.
25:31Well, you know, I got all this data through from North Leach.
25:34You know, we went to the wheat chief there.
25:36Oh, yeah.
25:36That was overpriced for what it was.
25:38Well, you thought so.
25:39But, anyway, look, they must have sent this by mistake, because I'm pretty sure they haven't
25:44read it.
25:45Why?
25:45Why do you say that?
25:46Because it says here that the works at North Leach, they haven't treated any sewage for
25:51three and a half months.
25:53So either the good people of North Leach have been holding it in for three and a half months,
25:58or...
25:58Now, I know they did not do that, because I have the love books, and North Leach is
26:05on Michael Lazarus's feet.
26:10Fucking hate my life.
26:20Sight flooded for the fifth day running.
26:27Storm tank high alarm sounding for nearly 48 hours now.
26:31Storm pump failure alarm sounding for nearly four days.
26:36All four fire filters not rotating.
26:38No flow coming into the works.
26:41Power surges have badly affected all equipment on site.
26:45Serious plant failure.
26:49Generator, generator not running.
26:51Run in to get the site going.
27:04The ghost tank's completely full.
27:08Sight's still heavily flooded.
27:10There's coming sludge water out onto Stormland.
27:13Roadside flooding believes have been caused by this
27:30Yeah, Liam, yeah, this is my home at norfege
27:35How is going mate how is packed up generates gone?
27:38Wait, it's gone. We can't treat sewage without any power
27:42We're either backing up, or we're dumping it straight into the river
27:47And Liam, mate
27:50There's sewage coming up from the ground
28:06Thames's own data shows North Leech hasn't treated any sewage for three and a half months
28:11Yeah
28:12So look
28:15There's two works
28:16And they're a few miles of each other
28:18Both rotting into the sludge, both dumping illegally
28:21We've got to get this to the Environment Agency
28:24They've got prosecuting powers
28:25What do you mean?
28:26Well, they don't have to show their evidence to the police
28:28These are crimes
28:29They can prosecute privately
28:32What, so they can just take temps to court?
28:35Yes
28:37They're the sewage police
28:38Wow
28:40Can anyone else do that?
28:42Post office
28:43The post office, that's unusual
28:46I can see that your swelling's gone down
28:49Yeah, yeah, the antibiotics are kicking in
28:51Very good
28:53And it's about keeping us a little bit more local
28:58Sorry, I'm just going to fold this up, actually
29:01We want to strip out as much unnecessary regulation as possible
29:07So, under operator self-monitoring
29:11We're going to be asking the water companies
29:13To monitor their own environmental performance
29:16Flagging any breaches to us as a priority
29:20I, um, sorry, I don't understand
29:23So, um, you want water companies to monitor their own pollution?
29:28Yeah, it's about shifting the burden of regulation onto the companies
29:33And asking the water companies if there's been a pollution
29:37To give us the details
29:40Hang on, hang on
29:42Just, just to be clear
29:45You want us to ask the water companies to tell us when they've dumped sewage?
29:52It's about pivoting away from, away from on-site inspections
29:57To a more desk-based approach
30:01Yeah, it's sort of streamlining our process
30:04So you want us to start visiting sewage works?
30:07No, no, no, no
30:08We'll still be doing on-site inspections, yeah
30:11Of course, um, provided that we give the company two weeks' notice of our visit
30:15Yeah, but that's a problem
30:16That is a problem because
30:17Well, sorry, again
30:18Yeah
30:19Um, but if we give the water companies two weeks' notice
30:22Yeah
30:22They'll just clean up before we get there
30:24Yeah
30:25I mean, it's, it, it is an honour system
30:27So, I, if the companies say that there hasn't been an incident
30:31I, I don't think we should go looking for reasons to challenge that
30:34So, what you're saying is
30:37Regulate yourselves
30:38And then just let us know if you've committed any crimes
30:45Yeah
30:47Thanks so much
30:48Okay, see you
30:54To Julia Simpson, Area Director, Environment Agency
30:59Dear Julia
30:59I live in Oxfordshire, near the River Windrush
31:03My neighbour, Professor Peter Hammond and I
31:05Have been gathering evidence of sewage discharges
31:08Into our river by Thames Water
31:10We'd like to bring what we've learned to the attention of the Environment Agency
31:14Dear Julia
31:15We'd like to invite you to meet some members of our group
31:19To discuss issues of sewage pollution
31:21Dear Julia
31:22We are going to take a trip down the river on foot
31:25And by boat looking at possible sources of sewage pollution
31:28Would the Environment Agency be interested?
31:30Dear Julia
31:31We are still waiting for a suitable point of contact
31:39Dear Ashley
31:40The Department for the Environment will provide you with a full response
31:44By the 8th of June, 2018
31:47She's got an MBE
31:49And a bloody big salmon
31:52Why is she taking so long to get back to us?
31:55Doesn't she realise you're doing your job for her?
31:58I don't know
31:58I might put in a complaint
32:00Than you G保
32:04Didn't she help you?
32:18I didn't know
32:18At the airport
32:19I cannot own
32:19I didn't know
32:20I don't know
32:20If Iぁ
32:27You
32:29I don't know
32:30But I love
32:42Mr. Smith, it's Julia Dimson from the Environment Agency.
32:46I'm so sorry it's taken me so long to get back to you.
32:49Honestly, waiting for Defra, it is maddening.
32:52Well, we've found each other now.
32:54We wanted to ask about how the agency monitors sewage dumps into the river.
33:01Well, spills, yes.
33:03Well, as you probably know, we manage operator self-monitoring.
33:07What, operator self-monitoring? What's that?
33:10Yes, it's for Thames Water to report any potential breaches.
33:14You mean it's Thames' job to tell you when they've dumped sewage?
33:19To report potential pollution incidents, yes.
33:23What if they don't report them?
33:24We would expect Thames to report 100% of pollution incidents.
33:28So, it's not even your responsibility to inspect the works?
33:35For?
33:37Well, to see if they're working.
33:40No, absolutely.
33:41We inspect the treatment works, yes, of course we do.
33:44How often?
33:45Well, we would inspect perhaps once every few days, up to perhaps once every six months, depending on the inspection
33:53team's judgment.
33:55We're aware that there's been some discussion locally around water quality on the Windrush.
34:00And in fact, we've just completed a new survey, so I was thinking it would be a good idea for
34:06me to take up your invitation, come down to the village hall and to go over some of the results.
34:11So, the good news is that our testing shows that there's no evidence that the Windrush is seriously polluted or
34:20that the quality of the water has declined.
34:22We do know that the river is more brown these days, but our evidence has shown that this brown colour
34:29has got nothing to do with sewage.
34:34Sorry, we've spoken earlier on the telephone.
34:36I wonder if you could confirm something you told me then, that the agency inspects all the works along the
34:43Windrush between every two to three days and every six months.
34:46Yes, that's right.
34:48Professor Peter Hammond, and I'm also part of this Windrush group, a colleague of yours told me that actually you
34:56only inspect once every eight years.
34:59And also, I've just been running your figures, and so you've only done about half of the inspections that you
35:09needed to have been doing.
35:10In fact, you've only been visiting the works once every 16 years.
35:16We also took a look at your water quality tests, and the thing is, they were all carried out upstream
35:24from all the major sewage works.
35:26It's almost as if you've chosen the cleanest part of the river to conduct your tests.
35:32The river is actually devoid of anything in there.
35:36The fish and all the wildfire and everything that reads on from that, from your kingfishers to everything.
35:42You've absolutely ruined this place, and you should be bloody well ashamed of yourself.
35:51And the watercress beds, you destroyed the watercress beds as well.
35:56That used to be a source of industry years ago, totally gone.
35:59We will be taking all your feedback into consideration.
36:03I will have to go away, and we will listen to your feedback, I promise you.
36:34Is it Mr. Lazarus?
36:36My name's Ash Smith. This is my colleague, Professor Peter Hammond. We're doing some research on Thames water and
36:44Listen, it's all off the record
36:46We're not disclosing the names of anyone we talked to. We wondered if you could spare 10 minutes
37:00People call me Mickey. Thank you very much for coming here. I know it's not easy. So we appreciate it
37:05I'm not grass, okay? So I did grass on my mate like in year 8 back in the day
37:10But this is different from grassing, right? This is not blowing the whistle. I told you I'm an ex-copper
37:15Yeah, you've told me that as well. That's maybe this is not grassing is like when you grass on your
37:18mates and
37:19Blowing the whistle whistle blowing is when you like grass on your boss, right?
37:25We're gonna start um all right check this out
37:29Most water companies get sold every 10 years or so JP Morgan Morgan Stanley
37:35Kuwait sovereign fund
37:38Chinese banks, we've had them all mate
37:46So, um, Macquarie bought us in 2006. That's the that's the Australian hedge fund
37:52It's known as the millionaire's factory such are the reputed riches of many of Macquarie's key executives
37:57The vampire kangaroo
37:58And they've earned that name because they are bloodsuckers leading companies rely on Macquarie for advice access to capital
38:05The first thing they did was sell our offices and then rent them back to us
38:10What wrong ins they make del boy look like a fucking amateur then they said that we had to get
38:15management clearance to buy
38:18Pens right to the top to buy a biro not even a parker not a fancy pen just a normal
38:23pen
38:23Piss take all right now. Let's say this
38:26A pipe's broken what you do normally you take it out you put a new one in
38:30They would tell us to stick a collar around it. It's not going to hold what's a collar?
38:35It's just like sticking plaster it's not going to hold it's a temporary fix the pipe still run
38:39Okay, it's going to go again. It's a box job. It's like frankenstein. Why don't they want to do it
38:45properly?
38:45Why don't they want to spend money and seal it properly? They don't give a monkeys about the works. You
38:50know why?
38:50Because they're going to flip you. If they don't want to spend any money on it
38:55How are they going to maintain your works? They don't give a shit. You know why they're like dodgy house
39:00flippers
39:00They're going to go in there. It's still rotten inside and they flip it. They're out. That's why I bank
39:05with Macquarie
39:07Macquarie when they flogged us they walked away with around 2.8 billion quid. It's scandalous
39:15So how do you know all this then? I started working for Thames when I was 16. Right on my
39:20second day. I joined the union
39:23I get people ringing me up every day. Mickey, it's all falling apart. We can't keep it going
39:28Pete if you were there working there you're an engineer
39:31You know and the pumps ain't working your own capacity. What's your best option? Well the best option obviously is
39:37just to
39:38Get rid of the sewage I suppose
39:39The only the only option is to press the button that flushes it all out
39:46I'm not proud to admit that
39:48And I feel guilty, you know
39:50I see people swimming in the
39:52These rivers and they think their kids swim in the rivers. What am I supposed to do? I know what
39:56goes in there. I put it in there
39:59We're at tipping point here fellas
40:04So we have run the brain tests
40:08Heather's brain has lost the ability to control her vital organs and unfortunately they are failing
40:15I'm really very sorry
40:18But I think it's time we consider turning off her ventilators
40:31Yeah
40:35No
40:38You
41:06Dear Professor Hammond,
41:08I'm a member of Citizens Against Southwest Water.
41:12We formed a year ago to fight the company's sewage dumping in our bit of Devon.
41:17One of our group was recently given these, which we thought you should see.
41:26A girl of eight may have been the first person in Britain to have contracted
41:31fatal E. coli poisoning from raw sewage.
41:34Ten other people, including four children, who all visited the beach on July 28th,
41:41were also struck down by the same bacterial strain.
41:46Have a brain tied to E. coli.
41:59If you'd like, we could bring her over to you.
42:02Here we go.
42:06Here we go.
42:08All right.
42:09Here we go.
42:10All right.
42:12I'll just leave you together for a little while now, okay?
42:14All right.
42:31You're all right?
42:35You're all right?
42:48You're all right?
42:49Okay, here we go.
42:52All right.
42:54There we go.
42:56Be careful.
42:57It's okay.
42:58Move on, come on.
43:30Bye.
43:31Watch out.
43:32Sorry about you.
43:43All right, then, let's see.
43:58So, you know how I taught the machine to look for the anomalies in Whitney and Churchamborough?
44:05Yeah, right.
44:06Well, have you been free-jazzing your numbers again?
44:09Well, it's actually a lot of hard work, you know.
44:10No, oh no, sorry.
44:11Just looking for the patterns and spotting the deviations.
44:14Yeah, right.
44:15And you know that, you do know that when a machine sees an abnormality, it can only mean one thing,
44:22that it's dumping sewage.
44:23Yes.
44:24Okay, so, in the nine years that I have data for, these two works alone, Whitney and Churchamborough, they've dumped
44:33sewage a thousand times.
44:38These aren't accidents, Ash.
44:41It's a policy.
44:46This is starting to look like organized crime.
44:58Oh, fuck.
45:01No, this isn't right.
45:02That's shit.
45:05No, this ain't right.
45:06That's pure sewage.
45:09You say you've got insufficient evidence, but we keep giving you the evidence.
45:12All we ever do is give you the evidence.
45:14If you don't know what caused the infection, then you need to shut down the beach.
45:18That's not going to happen.
45:19I wonder if we should be calling it an outbreak.
45:21I feel like the kind of term that could alarm people.
45:23We are conducting an investigation under section 108 of the Environment Lab.
45:27Close the beach before this happens to somebody else.
45:30With their kids, with fishing nets, sitting amongst turds.
45:35Reuben!
45:38Reuben!
45:39Reuben!
45:40I need another whistleblower.
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