- 23 hours ago
Dirty Business - Season 1 - Episode 01: The Accidental Detectives
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00:12Privateised water is a better deal than nationalised water, that the water privatisation, I believe,
00:20will go very successfully indeed, that will go very successfully indeed, and perhaps there
00:26will be a better way to see, so that we can pontificate in the light of the fact.
00:53What did I tell you about that seaweed, do not throw it!
01:03Are you hungry?
01:07Ice cream!
01:08No!
01:08No, we just got here, you will!
01:10Yeah, we'll get it on the way back to the chalet, all right?
01:13Yeah, we'll get it, we'll get it back.
01:15You did, isn't it?
01:15I do promise you, I will, I promise.
01:27Go away please.
01:29Heather, stop!
01:30What?
01:31Bloody hell.
01:32Heather, I told you to stop, didn't I?
01:36Think that's poo?
01:37Of course, it's not poo.
01:42It stinks.
01:43It wasn't poo.
01:44It's not poo.
01:45Don't, don't come in.
01:47Don't come in like that.
01:49How far shall I go?
01:50Go as far as you can.
01:52All right, all right, all right.
01:54I think we're doing that.
01:55And wash it off, scrub it.
01:56You what?
01:57Scrub it.
01:58All right.
01:58Here, Heather.
01:59Have I got it?
02:00Down, you think?
02:01Yeah, you are.
02:02Down, isn't that?
02:02Is it off her?
02:03You what?
02:04Is it off her?
02:05Yeah, I think so.
02:06Get a towel.
02:07Here, get her dry.
02:08Me.
02:09There you go.
02:09We've got a smelly little mermaid.
02:11Still smells that.
02:14Is that ticklish?
02:15Yeah.
02:16Tell the other one.
02:17What about that one?
02:19No.
02:19No?
02:20Oh, look at that.
02:36I think it was quite remarkable, really, that with most of the fresh water fish, and England
02:42was just on this stretch, most of it, including the chub.
02:46The chub came later, of course.
02:49They're gone.
02:50What, the chub?
02:51Well, the chub, the barbell, the eels, everything.
02:55Well, yes, I mean, the water's brown.
03:01You don't really think about the colour, um, when you see it every day.
03:08I mean, the brown here just seems normal.
03:11Yes.
03:12You and Eileen still do that water vole register?
03:16No.
03:16That's, uh, no, that day gone as well.
03:22I mean, I, I remember when I first came here that it was crystalline, isn't it?
03:50You never talk about your work.
03:52Well, I'd often, you know, it's, it's part of the training.
03:56It's not sort of, you know, dinner conversation.
03:58Well, you're not, you're tired now.
03:59It's not like I'm a, I'm a Russian spy, am I?
04:02It's not like I'm, you know, not working for Putin, am I?
04:05That makes me wonder now.
04:06Why would you say that?
04:07That's a bit, yeah.
04:08You investigated Ben Coppers, wasn't it?
04:11Yeah, 25 years.
04:12Well, come on, but 25 years, you must have, you must have some stories, mustn't you?
04:17Not really.
04:19Why don't you have the game pie?
04:20I don't like game pie.
04:22Shall we get some mixed greens?
04:23No, I'm just having the soup and the crusty bread, that sounds nice.
04:28I don't think that's extra, is it?
04:29No, no, no.
04:30That's right, yes.
04:32Er, there will have been some minor discoloration in one or two sections of the river.
04:39There's, erm, there's been a discharge from the Burford Works.
04:43A discharge?
04:44Discharge of what?
04:46Er, untreated sewage.
04:47Which, yeah, legally they're allowed to spill after heavy rainfall.
04:53So they can, they can, they can just do that, can't they?
04:56That's what you said.
04:57They're allowed to dump untreated sewage into the river right after heavy rain.
05:03But that, that can't be right, because it rains all the time.
05:07Well, heavy rain, he said.
05:08I don't remember any heavy rain, do you?
05:10You know, I'm gonna, er, write to Thames Water and ask how many times they've put sewage into the wind.
05:15Well, they're, they're not gonna tell you that.
05:17Oh yeah, yeah, they've got to.
05:18What's the law?
05:20Dear Mr. Smith, no untreated sewage has been discharged into the river Windrush for the past three years.
05:27Untreated sewage mixed with treated sewage has been discharged 240 times.
05:32Kind regards.
05:34When did that come in?
05:35When did it come in that you could put untreated sewage into the river per se?
05:41I don't see how putting any kind of pathogens into the river could possibly be allowed.
05:46I mean, people are swimming in there.
05:48Dear Mr. Smith, in response to your request for information, please find attached the documents below.
05:54Kind regards.
05:56Wankers.
05:57This must be like one of your cases, mustn't it? All this.
06:02When you used to be a detective.
06:05No.
06:06But, you know, poisonous stuff in the river, and we're not being warned about it.
06:11That, that'd be a, that'd be a scandal.
06:25It's a tummy bug, 48 hour thing, plenty of liquids. I'll give you some anti-sickness tablets just to stop
06:32the vomiting.
06:33Okay.
06:37Hey, Dad.
06:37Oh, shit.
06:38How many was it?
06:39Two.
06:39The doctor said you've got to take your medicine now.
06:42See.
06:44Close your eyes if you want, ma'am.
06:46Yeah, keep them closed.
06:47Here you go.
06:50Well, exactly.
06:51No, they said treated sewage mixed with untreated sewage, 240 times.
06:56Yeah.
07:10This is free jazz, is it?
07:12Oh, um, no, it's, it's not free jazz. It's, uh, contemporary jazz. It's like free jazz.
07:17Right.
07:19And people pay money to listen to them.
07:21She's just come round to piss me off.
07:24No.
07:24I'm gonna show you something.
07:26Look at this.
07:28So, uh, what is this?
07:29Uh, this is, uh, is this a reply from Thames Water?
07:32They're drowning me in numbers.
07:34Oh, I can see that.
07:35I mean, how are you supposed to make anything of that crap?
07:38Well, maybe, maybe that's what they're banking on.
07:40There's a needle in there somewhere, just, you know, go through the haystack to find it.
07:44You're the Oxford Professor of Mathematics.
07:46Yeah.
07:47No.
07:48Computational biology.
07:49It's not, um...
07:50Still math.
07:51It's nice machine learning, actually.
07:53So, what's that like?
07:54AI?
07:55I know you're gonna take the piss, but it's, it's a bit like free jazz.
07:58Oh!
08:00Depressing and pointless.
08:01Uh, no.
08:02Look, there's rules.
08:04So, there's a kind of order beneath the, the chaos.
08:08Um, and you've gotta listen really hard, uh, for the patents.
08:12Why don't you just email me these and I'll, I'll take a look.
08:23Oh!
08:25Oh, no, no.
08:40Fuck me.
08:47These, what you've given me, they're flow numbers.
08:50They track the sewage coming into the works and the rate at which is treated so it's safe to go
08:56back into the river.
08:58But there's something weird about this.
09:01Yeah? What?
09:03Well, here, look. Now, on the 27th of December, the flow of treated effluent coming out of the works just
09:12stops.
09:13It just stops completely.
09:15Right, what do you mean, it stops?
09:16The flow, it just stops. There's no treated effluent going back into the river.
09:22So, two days after Christmas, the people of Burford stop going to the toilet?
09:26No, no, see, this is it. Because the raw sewage is still going into the works, but there's nothing coming
09:35out.
09:38Now, that's, that's just not right.
09:42So, what do we do?
09:43I don't know. We go back to them and say, give us a bit more detail.
09:46Is that Ashley and Peter?
09:48Yes, yes, yes.
09:49Well, thanks so much for taking my call. It's Commander Aylard here. External affairs and sustainability at Thames. Richard, lovely
09:58to speak with you.
09:58Listen, I thought, well, why not get on the old dog and bone?
10:01Well, we appreciate your calling. Thank you.
10:02Not at all. Having our feet held to the fire like this is the thing that keeps us focused.
10:06Yeah, we've, um, what we've been asking about this anomaly in the, uh, flow data.
10:10Um, on, on the 27th of December, there's no treated effort going back into the river.
10:17Yeah.
10:17Nobody seems to be able to explain why that is.
10:20It's taken too long to get to the bottom of this. I've had to put some rockets up, a few
10:25jacksies, frankly.
10:27Turns out the flow meters at Burford were, on the blink, heavy rain.
10:33Uh, the sewage flow was normal, but the, the sensors weren't generating any data.
10:40Uh, safe to assume, uh, the people of Burford did not stop discharging.
10:46Uh, the measurements were, uh, temporarily interrupted.
10:50It's weird.
10:52And we'd like to invite you on, uh, a tour of the Burford works.
10:57It's, it's just strange, isn't it, that, um, all of the sensors stopped working at that one point.
11:03We can't think of any other explanation, frankly, but, uh, you know.
11:06I won't be there, regrettably, but Leonie will be there, and you'll be in very good hands.
11:11No, of course we'd like to do more, but the challenge is that Burford sewers are basically Victorian.
11:17Does anyone actually work here?
11:19It's an unmanned facility.
11:21Yeah, it should be unpeopled, really, shouldn't it?
11:23Ha, ha, ha.
11:25They have unpeopled works in Victorian times.
11:28Good one, no.
11:29Um, but we do have a state-of-the-art network of sensors which, uh, track all the treated fluid
11:35and effluent through the works.
11:38So, um, nobody, nobody works here?
11:41The sensors automatically transmit data to our waste operation control centre in Reading 24 hours a day.
11:49Right.
11:49Oh, that's what we call the telemetry.
11:53and what happens if something breaks down oh so our works are serviced by a team of mobile
12:00engineers if a piece of kit malfunctions a trigger will sensor an alarm and an engineer
12:06is dispatched within two hours right in here is where the engineers log books live
12:15they uh keep a record of anything that happens in one of these but um stuff up here this is
12:20the really exciting part so this is all the live real-time data being uploaded from the plants
12:26yes i can see it's quite extensive isn't it you can see the information coming through can't you
12:34yeah it's funny because like you know all the data is being pumped out you can see it but actually
12:39no one's looking at it you could save a bit of electricity there couldn't you what's that over
12:44there you've got some sort of cafe no that is our dedicated breakout zones you know for teas coffees
12:52relaxation um yeah any it's inviting inviting isn't it yeah no it's nice i like it it's just
12:57nobody's here to enjoy the tea oh no no well thank god that would mean something's going wrong
13:04all right thank you great yeah great oh sorry there's a hole there did anyone mention that
13:12we've been invited to the town hall in burford the commander wants us all there it's really
13:17exciting actually you know we think it's important that we hold our hands up when mistakes are made
13:25oh god did you see see her face like you do like i can't believe it and we can ask
13:34for all the
13:35telemetry and you know they've got to give it to us that's that's hundreds of thousands of data
13:40points and everything that goes on in the works right right just but try not to get too excited
13:45well i'm just saying i'm just saying calm down
13:54okay have you been giving her plenty of liquids yes yeah been keeping her warm yes did everything
14:02you said okay and are there any more symptoms yes she's been bleeding from her backside doctor
14:10i'm calling an ambulance
14:16so look i've got the telemetry for burford and i've deciphered the engineer's handwriting
14:2327th of december engineer's name is michael lazarus
14:31it turns out here that at eight minutes past five on the morning of the 27th the alarm got
14:38triggered at the works um the communications had failed but it must have been intermittent because
14:46at eight minutes past six the center got a message to say that both the main inlet pumps had failed
14:55then at 16 minutes past eight another alarm was triggered the storm tank was overflowing
15:05and that's when the dumping started
15:09so the pumps had packed up the storm tanks overflowing you've got three alarms sounding
15:15obviously they dispatched an engineer not for five and a half hours
15:25wet pumps one and two both failed return liquor pump failed balancing tank full untreated sewage tank
15:33full effluent chamber flooded
15:45storm tank tank tank tank tank tank tank is filled to the top
15:47all the sewage is flushing into the river
15:58return liquor pump reset
16:01Might fail again.
16:04I don't know how long this is going to hold.
16:07Trying my best here.
16:10Everything's failing.
16:11He did what he could to patch things up.
16:13But by then, it's been dumping sewage into the windrush for over five hours.
16:19Yeah, and we know.
16:20We know that there wasn't any heavy rainfall, like Aylard said,
16:24because there didn't even rain on that day.
16:26Yeah.
16:27And then the oxidation tank failed on the 28th.
16:31The rotation arms packed up on the 29th.
16:35Burford was falling apart.
16:37They couldn't handle all the sewage it was taken in,
16:39so it was just flushing everything into the river.
16:42And I feel that Mickey's the kind of person
16:45who's in the habit of telling the truth, don't you?
16:48Yeah.
16:49What about Commander Aylard?
17:00The results are back from the lab.
17:03It's quite serious.
17:06Heather has been infected with E. coli.
17:10The most aggressive strain.
17:130157.
17:17We're going to keep her comfortable, keep an eye on her,
17:20and hope that it passes through.
17:21Can you sleep?
17:22No.
17:24It's possible that the virus could attack Heather's kidney functions,
17:28which might have serious consequences for other organs.
17:40This was really about a temporary malfunction to the alarm,
17:46we think at least partly caused by the heavy rainfall that day,
17:49rather than any actual interruption to the treatment process.
17:52So what I'd like to do...
17:54Sorry, sorry, can I, um, can I say a few words, Commander?
17:58Yes, of course.
17:59There was no heavy rain.
18:01Um, in fact, um, it didn't rain at all.
18:06If you'll, uh, bear with me,
18:09what I have here is, uh, the engineer's logbooks.
18:13The engineer is called Michael Lazarus.
18:16And what you can see from Mr. Lazarus's logs
18:19is that the alarms were, in fact, functioning as normal.
18:25They were triggered as soon as the flooding began.
18:27And the thing is, Mr. Lazarus was not dispatched to the works
18:31for more than five hours.
18:34The plant was falling apart.
18:36It couldn't treat the sewage it was taking in,
18:39and so it was just pumping it all out directly into the river.
18:47Well, um, thanks so much, Ash.
18:50And to you, Peter.
18:52It does look as though I've been misinformed.
18:55And I intend to get to the bottom of this.
18:58And I'll be putting my thumb on whoever...
19:02So what are you going to do about what these two gentlemen have said?
19:04What's going to happen now?
19:05I think that we are both shocked, absolutely shocked,
19:09to hear that information, because we were...
19:12You've said one thing.
19:13They've actually backed up with evidence
19:15something completely the opposite.
19:17Our river.
19:19You're just dumping it and just covering everything up.
19:23And making money.
19:24And what's the long-term problems for the wildlife,
19:27the fish and the birds?
19:29What's happening with those?
19:30The ecological welfare of our rivers and our waterways
19:33is something that we find incredibly important.
19:37And what are you doing?
19:38So that's why...
19:38Nothing.
19:40You're polluting our water.
19:41I wouldn't even let my dog scream in the river now.
19:44It's disgusting.
19:45It is our highest, highest priority
19:47that we will be fixing this as soon as possible.
19:50I can assure you, from all of us at Thames Water,
19:52we are working night and day.
19:55Well, I think we need to have a deep breath.
19:57I do. I do as well.
19:58Thank you, sir.
19:59Thank you for your...
20:01Thank you. Thank you very much for the meeting.
20:04Shall we go outside?
20:06Yes.
20:07I think he just lied to us.
20:10Just straight up and down, took to our faces.
20:12Oh, no. He said he was misinformed.
20:14Princess Diane's equerry.
20:16I mean...
20:16What is that, by the way?
20:18I don't know.
20:19It helps when people lie.
20:21It's how you know they've got something to hide.
20:40I mean, it's ammonia we need to keep an eye out.
20:43Because that's going to read high right after they've dumped the sewage.
20:47Fuck me.
20:48It is actually like one of your cases, isn't it?
20:52Not really, no.
20:53It's more real-time monitoring of the river.
20:57And the outflow pipes as well.
21:00So the question is, is Burford acting alone?
21:06Because there's, what, seven?
21:09Seven.
21:09Seven works along the Windrush.
21:12So we need to know if Burford is an outlier, you know, a single failing plant.
21:17Like a lone assassin, just, you know, killing everything that lives in the water.
21:22Or are they more like Burford?
21:24Well, I mean, I suppose I could order the telemetry and get it for all of them.
21:36Dear EIR team, it would be a great time if you could supply all the telemetry exchanges
21:46between the Control Centre and the works at North Leach Church,
21:53Hambro, Whitney and Paul Arnold.
22:07I can't find a pulse.
22:13Is there nothing?
22:16That's weird.
22:23No, I can't feel anything.
22:24No.
22:26Somebody call for help?
22:27Get help.
22:27No.
22:28Can we get a doctor in here, please?
22:36What have you done to your finger?
22:38Oh, I don't know.
22:41I woke up this morning, it was like that.
22:43Feels a bit weird.
22:44Well, don't you think that Jala should take a look at that?
22:46I mean, she is a chemist, isn't she?
22:48I know she's a chemist.
22:49I live with her.
22:49Okay, so you know that they sent me all these data flows in the works at Whitney and at Church
22:55Hanborough.
22:56Yeah.
22:57But what I've done, I've converted the program that I built for the fetal alcohol kids.
23:07What happened there was that the mothers, they were being paid in wine, so most of their children
23:12had fetal alcohol syndrome.
23:16What I did was that I took thousands of photographs of these FAS kids.
23:23And so by showing the machine, hundreds of these faces of these unborn children, we taught
23:29it to spot the features of fetal alcohol syndrome in the womb.
23:41So when the program sees it's in a scan, then it can tell the doctor straight away and then
23:47they can start, you know, helping the mother and the kid.
23:53Now, Burford does most of his heavy lifting during early morning, just before everyone
23:57goes to work.
23:58Right.
23:58And then again in the evening, when they come back home, so you can see the flows of treated
24:06effluent hitting the daily peaks and troughs.
24:09Now, that's when the penny dropped.
24:11The thing is, that is just like the contours on a baby's face.
24:19By showing the machine nine years of this flow data, I've taught it to recognise when the usual
24:27flows, they don't show up.
24:31When the everyday flows are missing, well, they're not treating the sewage.
24:36And if they're not treating the sewage, there's nowhere for it to go.
24:40Except?
24:41Into the river.
24:43Except into the river.
25:05We've decided to transfer Heather to the Bristol Hospital for Children.
25:11It's one of the best in the country, they'll be able to look after her there.
25:16It's getting bigger, I think.
25:19Have you been in the river again?
25:20Yeah, yeah.
25:22Did you have any cuts?
25:24Yeah, yeah.
25:25I pricked my finger on a thorn when I was setting up the camera.
25:28Before?
25:29After you went into the river?
25:30Before.
25:31Right.
25:34So if there's a pathogen in the water, you've given it direct entry into your bloodstream.
25:42Is that bad?
25:44It's bad, you muppet.
25:46You need antibiotics.
25:49You know, a lot of sewage has drugs in it, and if they mix with bacteria, then the bacteria
25:56becomes antibiotic resistant, which means that the antibiotics might not work on you,
26:03so they might have to try different types of medication on you.
26:07Oh, God.
26:08Hold on.
26:13What's that?
26:13What are you doing?
26:15I'm just drawing on you.
26:18Why?
26:18Because if it gets bigger, then we will know.
26:22That looks worse now.
26:25So that's where she drew the marker, and that's how much bigger it's got in like two days.
26:30Bloody hell.
26:31And that is just from putting your hand in the river.
26:34Yeah, I'm an idiot.
26:35But, well, we know that, but, I mean, if it's doing that to your hand, just think about
26:40what it's doing to all the creatures that live in the river.
26:43Yeah, exactly.
26:43What was it you wanted to show me?
26:45Oh, yeah, well, you know, I got all this data through from North Leech.
26:49You know, we went to the wheat sheaf there.
26:51Oh, yeah.
26:52That was overpriced for what it was.
26:54Well, I mean, you thought so, but anyway, look, they must have sent this by mistake,
26:59because I'm pretty sure they haven't read it.
27:01Why?
27:01Why do you say that?
27:02Because it says here that the works at North Leech, they haven't treated any sewage for three
27:07and a half months.
27:09So either the good people of North Leech have been holding it in for three and a half months,
27:15or...
27:15Now, I know they did not do that, because I have the logbooks, and North Leech is on Michael
27:23Lazarus' beat.
27:27I fucking hate my life.
27:38Sight flooded for the fifth day running.
27:45Storm tank high alarm sounding for nearly 48 hours now.
27:50Storm pump failure alarm sounding for nearly four days.
27:54All four biofilters not rotating.
27:57No flow coming into the works.
28:00Power surges have badly affected all equipment on site.
28:04Serious plant failure.
28:08Generator not running.
28:10Ran in to get the site going.
28:12Oh, fuck's sake.
28:15Of course not.
28:16Yeah.
28:25Ghost tank's completely full.
28:28Sight's still heavily flooded.
28:30Pumping flood water out onto Stormland.
28:33Roadside flooding believed to have been caused by this.
28:39Oh, fuck off!
28:42Oh, for fuck's sake.
28:52Yeah, Liam.
28:53Yeah, listen, mate.
28:54I'm at North Leech.
28:56Power's gone, mate.
28:57Power's packed up.
28:58Generator's gone.
29:00Mate, it's gone.
29:01We can't treat sewage without any power.
29:04We're either backing up or we're dumping it straight into the river.
29:09Oh, and Liam, mate.
29:12There's sewage coming up from the ground.
29:29Thames's own data shows North Leech hasn't treated any sewage for three and a half months.
29:34Yeah.
29:36So, look, there's two works and they're a few miles of each other, both rotting into the sludge, both dumping
29:45illegally.
29:45We've got to get this to the Environment Agency.
29:48They've got prosecuting powers.
29:50What do you mean?
29:50Well, they don't have to show their evidence to the police.
29:53These are crimes.
29:54They can prosecute privately.
29:57What, sir?
29:57They can just take temps to court?
30:00Yes.
30:01They're the sewage police.
30:03The post office.
30:05Can anyone else do that?
30:07Post office.
30:08The post office.
30:09That's unusual.
30:12I can see that, yeah, your swelling's gone down.
30:14Yeah, yeah, the antibiotics are kicking in.
30:17Thank God.
30:19And it's about keeping us a little bit more local.
30:24Sorry, I'm just going to fold this up, actually.
30:27We want to strip out as much unnecessary regulation as possible.
30:34So, under operator self-monitoring, we're going to be asking the water companies to monitor their own environmental performance, flagging
30:44any breaches to us as a priority.
30:47I, um, sorry, I don't understand.
30:50So, um, you want water companies to monitor their own pollution?
30:56Yeah.
30:56It's about shifting the burden of regulation onto the companies and asking the water companies, if there's been a pollution,
31:04to give us the details.
31:07Uh, hang on, hang on.
31:11Just, just to be clear, you want us to ask the water companies to tell us when they've dumped sewage.
31:21It's about pivoting away from, away from on-site inspections to a more desk-based approach.
31:30Yeah, it's, it's sort of streamlining our process.
31:33So, you want us to stop visiting sewage works?
31:37No, no, no, no, we'll, we'll still be doing on-site inspections, yeah, of course, um, provided that we give
31:43the company two weeks' notice of our visit.
31:45Yeah, but that's a, that is a problem because, well, sorry, again.
31:48Yeah.
31:48Um, but if we give the water companies two weeks' notice, they'll just clean up before we get there.
31:55I mean, it's, it, it is an honour system, so, I, if the companies say that there hasn't been an
32:01incident, I, I don't think we should go looking for reasons to challenge that.
32:05So, what you're saying is, regulate yourselves and then just let us know if you've committed any crimes?
32:16Yeah.
32:19Thanks so much.
32:20Okay, see you.
32:26To Julia Simpson, Area Director, Environment Agency.
32:31Dear Julia, I live in Oxfordshire, near the River Windrush.
32:35My neighbour, Professor Peter Hammond, and I have been gathering evidence of sewage discharges into our river by Thames Water.
32:43Dear Julia, we'd like to bring what we've learned to the attention of the Environment Agency.
32:47Dear Julia, we'd like to invite you to meet some members of our group to discuss issues of sewage pollution.
32:54Dear Julia, we are going to take a trip down the river on foot and by boat looking at possible
32:59sources of sewage pollution.
33:01Would the Environment Agency be interested?
33:04Dear Julia, we are still waiting for a suitable point of contact.
33:13Dear Ashley, the Department for the Environment will provide you with a full response by the 8th of June 2018.
33:21She's got an MBE and a bloody big salmon.
33:26Why is she taking so long to get back to us?
33:30Doesn't she realise we're doing her job for her?
33:32I don't know.
33:33I might put in a complaint.
34:01I might put in a complaint.
34:19Hello?
34:20Mr Smith, it's Julia Simpson from the Environment Agency.
34:23I'm so sorry it's taken me so long to get back to you.
34:26Honestly, waiting for death, right?
34:28It is maddening.
34:29Well, we've found each other now.
34:31We wanted to ask about how the agency monitors sewage dumps into the river.
34:39Spills, yes.
34:41Well, as you probably know, we manage operator self-monitoring.
34:46What, operator self-monitoring? What's that?
34:48Yes, it's for Thames Water to report any potential breaches.
34:52You mean it's Thames' job to tell you when they've dumped sewage?
34:57To report potential pollution incidents, yes.
35:02So what if they don't report them?
35:03We would expect Thames to report 100% of pollution incidents.
35:08So it's not even your responsibility to inspect the works?
35:15For, well, to see if they're working?
35:19Well, no, absolutely.
35:21We inspect the treatment works, yes, of course we do.
35:24How often?
35:25Well, we would inspect perhaps once every few days,
35:29up to perhaps once every six months,
35:32depending on the inspection team's judgment.
35:35Ash, we're aware that there's been some discussion locally
35:38around water quality on the Windrush.
35:41And, in fact, we've just completed a new survey,
35:43so I was thinking it would be a good idea for me
35:47to take up your invitation,
35:49come down to the village hall
35:50and to go over some of the results.
35:53So the good news is that our testing
35:57shows that there's no evidence
35:59that the Windrush is seriously polluted
36:02or that the quality of the water has declined.
36:05We do know that the river is more brown these days,
36:08but our evidence has shown that this brown colour
36:11has got nothing to do with sewage.
36:16Sorry.
36:17We've spoken earlier on the telephone.
36:19I wonder if you could confirm something you told me then,
36:21that the agency inspects all the works
36:25along the Windrush between every two to three days
36:28and every six months.
36:29Yes, that's right.
36:31Professor Peter Hammond,
36:32and I'm also part of this Windrush group,
36:35a colleague of yours told me
36:38that actually you only inspect once every eight years.
36:43And also, I've just been...
36:44Listen, listen.
36:45I've been running your figures,
36:48and so you've only done about half of the inspections
36:53that you needed to have been doing.
36:55In fact, you've only been visiting the works
36:57once every 16 years.
37:01We also took a look at your water quality tests.
37:05And the thing is,
37:06they were all carried out upstream
37:09from all the major sewage works.
37:11It's almost as if you've chosen
37:12the cleanest part of the river
37:14to conduct your tests.
37:17The river is actually devoid of anything in there.
37:21The fish and all the wildfire
37:24and everything that reads on from that,
37:26from your kingfishers to everything.
37:28You've absolutely ruined this place,
37:30and you should be bloody well ashamed of yourself.
37:33Yes, sir.
37:38And the watercress beds.
37:40You destroyed the watercress beds as well.
37:43That used to be a source of industry years ago.
37:45Totally gone.
37:46We will be taking all your feedback into consideration.
37:50I will have to go away,
37:51and we will listen to your feedback.
37:55I promise you.
38:22Er, is it Mr Lazarus?
38:25My name's Ash Smith.
38:27This is my colleague, Professor Peter Hammond.
38:29We're doing some research on Thames water.
38:32And, er...
38:33Listen, it's all off the record.
38:35We're not disclosing the names of anyone we talked to.
38:38We wondered if you could spare ten minutes.
38:50People call me Mickey, first of all.
38:51Thank you very much for coming here.
38:52I know it's not easy, so...
38:54We appreciate you so much, I can't tell you.
38:55I'm not a grass, okay?
38:58So, I did grass on my mate, like, in year eight, back in the day,
39:01but this is different from grassing, right?
39:03This is like blowing the whistle.
39:04I told you I'm an ex-copper.
39:05Yeah.
39:06You've told me that as well.
39:06That's made me nervous.
39:07This is not grass.
39:08Grassing is like when you grass on your mates,
39:10and blowing the whistle...
39:11What's that?
39:12Whistle blowing is when you, like, grass on your boss.
39:14Right.
39:16We've got to start.
39:17Erm...
39:18All right.
39:18Check this out.
39:21Most water companies get sold every ten years or so.
39:24JP Morgan, Morgan Stanley...
39:26Kuwait Sovereign Fund...
39:29Chinese banks...
39:31We've had them all, mate.
39:38So, Macquarie bought us in 2006.
39:41That's the...
39:42That's the Australian hedge fund.
39:44It's known as the Millionaire's Factory.
39:47Such are the reputed riches of many of Macquarie's key executives.
39:50It's a vampire kangaroo.
39:52That's it.
39:52And they've earned that name because they are bloodsuckers.
39:54Leading companies rely on Macquarie for advice, access to capital.
39:58The first thing they did was sell our offices and then rent them back to us.
40:03What?
40:04Wrong-uns.
40:05They make Del Boy look like a fucking amateur.
40:07Then they said that we had to get management clearance to buy pens.
40:12Right to the top to buy a biro.
40:15Not even a parka.
40:16Not a fancy pen.
40:17Just a normal pen.
40:18Piss take, all right?
40:19Now, let's say this.
40:20Right.
40:21A pipe's broken.
40:22What do you do?
40:23Normally, you take it out, you put a new one in.
40:25They would tell us to stick a collar around it.
40:28It's not going to hold.
40:29What's a collar?
40:30It's just like sticking plaster.
40:31It's not going to hold.
40:32It's a temporary fix.
40:33The pipe's still rotten.
40:34Okay?
40:35It's going to go again.
40:36It's a botch job.
40:37It's like Frankenstein.
40:38Why don't they want to do it properly?
40:40Why don't they want to spend money and seal it properly?
40:43They don't give up monkeys about the works.
40:45You know why?
40:46Because they're going to flip you.
40:47If they don't want to spend any money on it,
40:50how are they going to maintain your works?
40:52They don't give a shit.
40:53You know why?
40:54They're like dodgy house flippers.
40:56They're going to go in there, it's still rotten inside,
40:58and they flip it, they're out.
41:00That's why I banked with Macquarie.
41:03Macquarie, when they flogged us,
41:05they walked away with around 2.8 billion quid.
41:09It's scandalous.
41:12So, how do you know all this then, Mickey?
41:14I started working for Thames when I was 16, right?
41:17On my second day, I joined the union.
41:20I get people ringing me up every day.
41:22Mickey, it's all falling apart.
41:24We can't keep it going.
41:26Pete, if you were there working there,
41:28you were an engineer, you know,
41:30and the pumps ain't working, you're at capacity,
41:32what's your best option?
41:33Well, the best option, obviously,
41:35is just to get rid of the sewage, I suppose.
41:38The only option is to press the button that flushes it all out.
41:44I'm not proud to admit that.
41:47And I feel guilty, you know?
41:49I see people swimming in these rivers
41:52and their kids swim in the rivers.
41:54What am I supposed to do?
41:54I know what goes in there.
41:55I'll put it in there.
41:58We're at tipping point here, fellas.
42:04So, we have run the brain tests.
42:07Heather's brain has lost the ability to control her vital organs,
42:10and unfortunately, they are failing.
42:15I'm really very sorry.
42:18But I think it's time we consider turning off her ventilators.
42:21I'll just do a little bit more,
42:27He's very sorry, man.
42:29I'm very sorry.
42:34I'll just do a little bit more.
42:35I'm very sorry.
42:38I'm really scared.
42:38I'm very sorry.
42:41I'm very sorry.
42:42I'm very sorry.
42:44I'm very sorry.
42:46I'm very sorry.
42:49I can't wait...
42:49I'm not.
42:50I can't wait for anybody to come out.
43:08Dear Professor Hammond,
43:10I'm a member of Citizens Against Southwest Water.
43:14We formed a year ago to fight the company's sewage dumping in our bit of Devon.
43:19One of our group was recently given these, which we thought you should see.
43:29A girl of eight may have been the first person in Britain to have contacted fatal E. coli poisoning from
43:37raw sewage.
43:38Ten other people, including four children, who all visited the beach on July the 28th,
43:45were also struck down by the same bacterial strain.
43:51Heather Preen died of E. coli.
44:04If you'd like, we could bring her over to you.
44:11Here we go.
44:13All right.
44:14Here we go.
44:16All right.
44:17I'll just leave you together for a little while now, okay?
44:25All right, brother.
44:39You're all right.
44:42You're all right.
44:56It's all right.
44:57Okay.
44:58Here we go.
45:00All right.
45:01Here we go.
45:03Be careful.
45:05It's okay, I got it.
45:06My phone, come over.
45:41You're sorry.
45:42Sorry about it.
45:54Oh, yeah.
46:09So, you know how I taught the machine to look for the anomalies in Whitney and Church Hamburger?
46:16Yeah, right.
46:17Well, have you been free jazzing your numbers again?
46:20Well, it's actually a lot of hard work, you know.
46:22Oh, no, sorry.
46:23Just looking for the patterns and spotting the deviations.
46:26Yeah, right.
46:27And you know that, you do know that when the machine sees an abnormality, it can only mean
46:33one thing, that it's dumping sewage.
46:35Yes.
46:36Okay, so, in the nine years that I've dated for, these two works alone, Whitney and Church Hamburger,
46:45they've dumped sewage a thousand times.
46:51These aren't accidents, Ash.
46:54It's a policy.
46:58This is starting to look like organised crime.
47:12Oh, fuck.
47:14No, this isn't right.
47:16That's shit.
47:19No, this ain't right.
47:20That's pure sewage.
47:23You say you've got insufficient evidence, but we keep giving you the evidence.
47:27All we ever do is give you the evidence.
47:29If you don't know what caused the infection, then you need to shut down the beach.
47:33That's not gonna happen.
47:34I wonder if we should be calling it an outbreak.
47:36I feel like the kind of term that could alarm people.
47:38We are conducting an investigation under section 108 of the Environmental Life.
47:43Close the beach before this happens to somebody else.
47:46With their kids, with fishing nets, sitting amongst turds.
47:50Reuben!
47:52Come on.
47:54Reuben!
47:55We need another whistleblower.
47:58We can do everything.
47:58Hold up.
48:26Let's bang%.
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