- 14 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 that
00:26we have a better way to sea, so that we can pontificate in the light of the fact.
00:53Lewis! Lewis! What did I tell you about that seaweed?
00:55Do not throw it!
01:03You hungry?
01:05Not the tank.
01:07Ice cream!
01:08No!
01:08No. We just got here, you willy.
01:10Yeah, we'll get it on the way back to the shallow, alright?
01:13Yeah, we'll get it, we'll get it back.
01:15It's dead, isn't it?
01:15I do promise you, I will, I promise.
01:27Girls, wait please.
01:29Heather, stop!
01:30Bloody 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 doesn't matter.
01:46Don't!
01:46Stop pooing!
01:47All right?
01:48Don't poo in like that.
01:49How far shall I go?
01:50Go as far as you can!
01:52All right, love, all right, all right.
01:54I think we'll get you in now.
01:55Wash it off, scrub it.
01:56You what?
01:57Scrub it.
01:58All right.
01:58Here, Heather!
01:59Down you, down you think.
02:01Yeah, you are!
02:02Donut, no.
02:02Is it off her?
02:03You what?
02:04Is it off her?
02:05Yeah, I think so.
02:06You're the donut.
02:06Get a towel.
02:07Here, get her dry.
02:08Me.
02:09There you go.
02:10We've got a smelly little mermaid.
02:11Who smells that?
02:14Is that ticklish?
02:15Yeah.
02:16Do the other one, about that one.
02:19No.
02:19No?
02:20Oh, look at that.
02:25It's clear!
02:36Mine was quite remarkable, really, that with most of the freshwater fish,
02:41and England was just on this stretch most of us, though,
02:45including the chub.
02:46The chub came later, of course.
02:49They 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,
03:06when you see it every day.
03:08I mean, the brown here just seems normal.
03:11Yes, sir.
03:13Would Eileen still do that water vole register?
03:16No. That's, uh, no Van Degon as well.
03:22I mean, I remember when I first came here
03:26that it was crystalline, isn't it?
03:50You never talk about your work.
03:52Well, I'd often, you know, 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 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. Why would you say that?
04:07That's a bit... You investigated Ben Coppers, wasn't it?
04:11Yeah, 25 years.
04:12Well, come on, but 25 years you must have...
04:14You 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.
04:27That sounds nice.
04:30That's right, yes.
04:32Er, there will have been some minor discolouration
04:36in one or two sections of the river.
04:39There's, erm, there's been a discharge from the Burford Works.
04:43A discharge? Discharge of what?
04:45Er, untreated sewage.
04:47Yeah, 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 he said.
04:57They're allowed to dump untreated sewage into the river
05:02right after heavy rain.
05:04But that, that can't be right, cos it, 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
05:13how many times they've put sewage into the river.
05:15Well, they're, they're not gonna tell you that.
05:17Oh yeah, yeah, they've got to.
05:18It's the law.
05:20Dear Mr. Smith, no untreated sewage has been discharged
05:24into the river wind rush for the past three years.
05:27Untreated sewage mixed with treated sewage has been discharged
05:31240 times.
05:33Kind regards.
05:34When did that come in?
05:35When did it come in that you could put untreated sewage
05:39into the river per se?
05:41I don't see how putting any kind of pathogens into the river
05:45could possibly be allowed.
05:46I mean, people are swimming in there.
05:47Dear Mr. Smith, in response to your request for information,
05:52please find attached the documents below.
05:54Kind regards.
05:56Wankers.
05:58This must be like one of your cases, mustn't it?
06:01All this.
06:02When you used to be a detective.
06:05No.
06:06But, you know, poisonous stuff in the river
06:09and we're not being warned about it?
06:11That, that'd be a, that'd be a scandal.
06:25It's a tummy bug.
06:2748 hour thing.
06:29Plenty of liquids.
06:30I'll give you some anti-sickness tablets just to stop the vomiting.
06:33Okay.
06:37Hey, darling.
06:37Oh, shit.
06:38How many was it?
06:39The doctor said you got to take your medicine now.
06:42See.
06:44Close your eyes if you want, ma'am.
06:46Yeah, keep them closed.
06:47Close your eyes, dear.
06:49Well, exactly.
06:51No, they said treated sewage mixed with untreated sewage,
06:54240 times.
06:56Yeah.
07:09This is free jazz, is it?
07:12Oh, um, no, it's, it's not free jazz.
07:14It's, uh, contemporary jazz.
07:16It's like free jazz.
07:18Right.
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.
07:42Just, you know, go through the haste act to find it.
07:44You're the Oxford professor of mathematics.
07:46Yeah.
07:47No, uh, computational biology.
07:49It's not, um...
07:50Still math.
07:51It's not, it's 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.
08:02No, 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 patterns.
08:11Why don't you just email me these and I'll, I'll take a look.
08:31Fuck me.
08:47These, what you've given me, they're, they're flow numbers.
08:50They track the sewage coming into the works and the rate of which is treated,
08:54so it's safe to go back into the river.
08:58But there's something weird about this.
09:01Yeah?
09:02What?
09:03Well, here, look.
09:05Now, on the 27th of December, the flow of treated effluent coming out of the river,
09:11and the flow of the works just stops, it just stops completely.
09:15Right, what do you mean it stops?
09:16The flow, it just stops.
09:18There's no, there's no treated effluent going back into the river.
09:22So, two days after Christmas, the people of Burford stopped going to the toilet?
09:27No, no.
09:27See, this is it.
09:28Because the raw sewage is still going into the works, but there's nothing coming out.
09:37No, no.
09:39No.
09:40No.
09:41No.
09:43No.
09:44Well, you 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.
09:51It's Commander Aylard here.
09:54External Affairs and Sustainability at Thames.
09:57Richard, lovely to speak with you.
09:58Listen, I thought, well, why not get on the old dog and bone?
10:01Well, we appreciate your calling.
10:03Not at all.
10:03Having our feet held to the fire like this is the thing that keeps us focused.
10:06Yeah, we've been asking about this anomaly in the flow data.
10:11On the 27th of December, there's no treated effluent 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.
10:22I've had to put some rockets up a few jacksies, frankly.
10:27Turns out the flow meters at Burford were, on the blink, heavy rain.
10:33The sewage flow was normal, but the sensors weren't generating any data.
10:40Safe to assume the people of Burford did not stop discharging.
10:46The measurements were temporarily interrupted.
10:50It's all that weird.
10:52And we'd like to invite you on a tour of the Burford works.
10:57It's just strange, isn't it, that all of the sensors stopped working at that one point.
11:03We can't think of any other explanation, frankly, but, you know.
11:07I won't be there, regrettably, but Leonie will be there, and you'll be a very good hat.
11:11You know, 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.
11:21It should be unpeopled, really, shouldn't it?
11:25Do they have unpeopled works in Victorian times?
11:28We don't know.
11:29But we do have a state-of-the-art network of sensors, which track all the treated fluid and effluent
11:36through 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.
11:52And what happens if something breaks down?
11:56Oh, so our works are serviced by a team of mobile engineers.
12:01If a piece of kit malfunctions, a trigger will sensor an alarm, and an engineer is dispatched within two hours.
12:08Right.
12:10Oh, in here is where the engineers' logbooks live.
12:16They, er, keep a record of anything that happens in one of these.
12:19But, um, stuff up here, this is the really exciting part.
12:21So this is all the live, real-time data being uploaded from the plants.
12:26Yes, I can see it's, er, quite extensive, isn't it?
12:29You can see the information coming through, can't you?
12:34Mm, yeah.
12:35It's funny, cos, like, you know, all the data's being pumped out, you can see it, but actually no-one's
12:40looking at it.
12:40You could save a bit of electricity there, couldn't you?
12:43What's that over there? You've got, um, sort of cafe...?
12:46No, that is our dedicated breakout zones.
12:49You know, for teas, coffees, relaxation, um, yeah, any time.
12:54It's inviting. Inviting, isn't it?
12:56Yeah, no, it's nice. I like it.
12:57It's just nobody's here to enjoy the tea, aren't you?
12:59Oh, no, no. Well, thank God. That would mean something's going wrong.
13:04All right, thank you.
13:06Great.
13:07Yeah, great. Ooh, sorry.
13:09There's a hole there.
13:11Did anyone mention that we'd been invited to the town hall in Burford?
13:15The commander wants us all there.
13:16It's really exciting, actually.
13:18You know, we think it's important that we hold our hands up when mistakes are made.
13:25God, did you see... see her face?
13:29Like a huge, you were like...
13:32I can't believe it.
13:34And we can ask for all the telemetry, and you know, they've got to give it to us.
13:37That's... that's hundreds of thousands of data points,
13:41and everything that goes on in the works.
13:43Right, right, just try not to get too excited.
13:45Well, I'm just saying...
13:48I'm just saying, calm down.
13:55OK, have you been giving her plenty of liquids?
13:58Yes.
13:59Yeah, been keeping her warm?
14:00Yes. Did everything you said.
14:02OK, and are there any more symptoms?
14:05Yes.
14:08She's been bleeding from her backside, Doctor.
14:11I'm calling an ambulance.
14:16So, look, I've got the telemetry for Burford.
14:21And I've deciphered the engineer's handwriting.
14:2427th of December.
14:26Engineer's name is Michael Lazarus.
14:31It turns out here that at eight minutes past five,
14:35on the morning of the 27th, the alarm got triggered at the works,
14:40and the communications had failed.
14:43But it must have been intermittent,
14:46because at eight minutes past six,
14:48the centre got a message to say that both the main inlet pumps had failed.
14:56Then, at 16 minutes past eight, another alarm was triggered.
15:01The storm tank was overflowing.
15:05And that's when the dumping started.
15:09So, the pumps have packed up.
15:11The storm tank's overflowing.
15:13You've got three alarms sounding.
15:15Obviously, they've dispatched an engineer.
15:19Not for five and a half hours.
15:26Wet pumps one and two.
15:28Both failed.
15:29Returned liquor pump.
15:30Failed.
15:30Balancing tank.
15:31Full.
15:32Untreated sewage tank.
15:33Full.
15:34Effluent chamber.
15:35Flooded.
15:37I don't need this shit.
15:45Storm tanks filled to the top.
15:47All the sewage is flushing into the river.
15:52Set.
15:59Returned liquor pump.
16:00Reset.
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,
16:15it'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 who'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,
17:19keep an eye on her,
17:20and hope that it passes through.
17:21Do 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.
17:55Can I say a few words, Commander?
17:58Yes, of course.
17:59There was no heavy rain.
18:02In fact, it didn't rain at all.
18:06If you'll bear with me,
18:09what I have here is 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, 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
19:16something completely the opposite.
19:17Our river.
19:19You're just dumping in and just covering everything up.
19:23And making money.
19:23And 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.
19:44It 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 Thameswater,
19:53we are working night and day.
19:56I 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 your meeting.
20:04Shall we go outside?
20:06Yes.
20:07I think he just lied to us.
20:10Just straight up and down to our faces.
20:12No, he said he was misinformed.
20:14Princess Diana's Equiry.
20:16I mean...
20:16What is that, by the way?
20:18Equiry?
20:18I don't know.
20:20It helps when people lie.
20:22It'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.
21:01So the question is, is Burford acting alone?
21:06Because there's what?
21:08Seven?
21:09Seven, is it?
21:09Seven works along the Windrush.
21:12So we need to know if Burford is an outlier, you know, single failing plant.
21:17Like a lone assassin just killing everything that lives in the water.
21:21Or are they more like Burford?
21:24Well, I mean, I suppose I could order the telemetry and get it for all of them.
21:30You know?
21:36Dear EIR team, I would be grateful if you could supply all the telemetry exchanges between the control centre and
21:48the works at North Leach, Church, Ambro, Whitney and...
21:55...and also see me Professor Peter Hammond.
22:07I can't find a pulse.
22:13Is there nothing?
22:16That's weird.
22:23No, I can't feel anything.
22:25No.
22:26Somebody call for help? Get help.
22:28No. Can 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.
22:43Well, don't you think that Jala should take a look at that? I mean, she is a chemist, isn't she?
22:48I know, she's a chemist. I live with her.
22:50Okay, so you know that they sent me all these data flows from the works at Whitney and at Church
22:55Hamburger.
22:56Yeah.
22:57But what I've done, I've converted the programme that I built for the fetal alcohol kits.
23:07What happened there was that the mothers, they were being paid in wine, so most of their children had fetal
23:13alcohol syndrome.
23:16What I did was that I took, I took thousands of photographs of these FAS kits.
23:23And so by showing the machine, hundreds of these faces of these unborn children, we taught it to spot the
23:30features of fetal alcohol syndrome in the womb.
23:41So when the programme sees it's in a scan, then it can tell the doctor straight away and then they
23:47can start helping the mother and the kid.
23:53Now, Burford does most of his heavy lifting during early morning, just before everyone goes to work.
23:58Right.
23:59And then again in the evening, when they come back home.
24:03So you can see the flows of treated effluent hitting the daily peaks and troughs.
24:09Now, that's when the penny dropped.
24:12The thing is, that is just like the contours on a baby's face.
24:20By showing the machine nine years of this flow data, I've taught it to recognise when the usual flows, they
24:28don't, 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.
24:52Outro Music
25:02Outro Music
25:05We've decided to transfer Heather to the Bristol Hospital for Children.
25:11It's one of the best in the country.
25:13They'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, I, uh, I pricked my finger on a thorn when I was setting up the camera.
25:28Before or after you went into the river?
25:30Before.
25:32Right.
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.
25:52And if they mix with bacteria, then the bacteria becomes antibiotic resistant,
25:59which 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?
26:14What are you doing?
26:15I'm just drawing on you.
26:18Why?
26:18Because if it gets bigger, then we will know.
26:21Well, that 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.
26:34Yep.
26:34I'm an idiot.
26:35Well, we know that.
26:37But, I mean, if it's doing that to your hand, just think about what it's doing to all the creatures
26:42that live in the river.
26:43Exactly.
26:43What was it you wanted to show me?
26:45Oh, yeah.
26:46Well, you know, I got all this data through from Northleach.
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.
26:55But, anyway, look, they must have sent this by mistake, because 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 Northleach, they haven't treated any sewage for three and a half months.
27:09So either the good people of Northleach have been holding it in for three and a half months, or...
27:15Now, I know they did not do that, because I have the logbooks, and Northleach is on Michael Lezeris' 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.
28:13Oh, fuck's sake.
28:15Of course.
28:15Fuck.
28:18Fuck.
28:22What's...
28:33Oh, fuck's sake.
28:52Yeah, Liam.
28:53Yeah, listen, mate.
28:54I'm at Northleach.
28:56Power's gone, mate.
28:58Power'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.
29:10And Liam, mate.
29:12There's sewage coming up from the ground.
29:29Thames's own data shows Northleach hasn't treated any sewage for three and a half months.
29:34Yeah.
29:36So, look.
29:38There's two works, and they're a few miles of each other.
29:42Both rotting into the sludge.
29:44Both dumping illegally.
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.
29:54And they can prosecute privately.
29:57What, so they can just...
29:59Just take temps to court?
30:00Yes.
30:02They're the sewage police.
30:03They're the sewage police.
30:03Wow.
30:05You get like, can anyone else do that?
30:07Post office.
30:08The post office.
30:09That's unusual.
30:11I can see that 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.
30:28We want to strip out as much unnecessary regulation
30:33as possible.
30:34So, under operator self-monitoring,
30:37we're going to be asking the water companies
30:39to monitor their own environmental performance,
30:44flagging any 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, it's about shifting the burden of regulation
30:59onto the companies and asking the water companies,
31:03if there's been a pollution, to give us the details.
31:07Uh, hang on, hang on.
31:11Just, just to be clear,
31:13you want us to ask the water companies
31:17to tell us when they've dumped sewage.
31:21It's about pivoting away from,
31:24away from on-site inspections
31:26to 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
31:38on-site inspections, yeah, of course.
31:41Um, provided that we give the company
31:43two weeks' notice of our visit.
31:45Yeah, but that's a, that is a problem, because...
31:47Well, sorry, again.
31:48Yeah.
31:49Um, but if we give the water companies
31:51two weeks' notice... Yeah.
31:52..they'll just clean up before we get there.
31:55I mean, it's, it, it is an honour system,
31:57so if the companies say that there hasn't been an incident,
32:02I, I don't think we should go looking for reasons
32:04to challenge that.
32:05So, what you're saying is,
32:08regulate yourselves and then just let us know
32:12if 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,
32:34near the River Windrush.
32:35My neighbour, Professor Peter Hammond, and I
32:37have been gathering evidence of sewage discharges
32:41into our river by Thames Water.
32:43We'd like to bring what we've learned to the attention
32:45of the Environment Agency.
32:47Dear Julia,
32:48we'd like to invite you to meet some members of our group
32:51to discuss issues of sewage pollution.
32:54Dear Julia,
32:56we are going to take a trip down the river on foot
32:58and by boat looking at possible sources of sewage pollution.
33:01Would the Environment Agency be interested?
33:04Dear Julia,
33:05we are still waiting for a suitable point of contact.
33:13Dear Ashley,
33:14the Department for the Environment will provide you with a full response
33:18by the 8th of June 2018.
33:21She's got an MBE and a bloody big salmon.
33:27Why 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.
33:57I might put in a complaint.
34:18Yeah, love.
34:20Mr Smith,
34:21it'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,
34:27waiting for DEFRA,
34:28it is maddening.
34:29Well,
34:30we've found each other now.
34:31We wanted to ask about how the agency monitors sewage dumps into the river.
34:39Spills,
34:40yes.
34:41Well,
34:42as you probably know,
34:43we manage operator self-monitoring.
34:46What,
34:46operator self-monitoring?
34:48What's that?
34:48Yes,
34:49it's for Thames Water to report any potential breaches.
34:52You mean it's Thames' job
34:54to tell you when they've dumped sewage?
34:58To report potential pollution incidents,
35:01yes.
35:02What if they don't report them?
35:03We would expect Thames to report 100% of pollution incidents.
35:08So,
35:09it's not even your responsibility to inspect the works?
35:15For?
35:16Well,
35:17to see if they're working.
35:19Well,
35:20no,
35:20absolutely.
35:21We inspect the treatment works.
35:23Yes,
35:24of course we do.
35:24How often?
35:25Well,
35:26we 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,
35:36we're aware that there's been some discussion locally around water quality on the Windrush.
35:41And in fact,
35:41we've just completed a new survey.
35:43So I was thinking it would be a good idea for me to take up your invitation,
35:49come down to the village hall and to go over some of the results.
35:53So the good news is that our testing shows that there's no evidence that 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 has got nothing to do with sewage.
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 along the Windrush between every two to three days and every six months.
36:30Yes,
36:30that's right.
36:31Professor Peter Hammond,
36:32and I'm also part of this Windrush group,
36:36a colleague of yours told me that actually you only inspect once every eight years.
36:43And also I've just been,
36:44I've been,
36:45I've been running your,
36:48your figures.
36:48And so you've only done about half of the inspections that you needed to have been doing.
36:54In fact,
36:56you've only been visiting the works once 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 from all the major sewage works.
37:11It's almost as if you've chosen the cleanest part of the river to conduct your tests.
37:17The river is actually devoid of anything in there.
37:21The fish and all the wildfire and everything that reads on from that,
37:26from your kingfishers to everything.
37:28You've absolutely ruined this place and you should be bloody well ashamed of yourself.
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.
37:56I promise you.
38:23Is 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, uh...
38:33Listen, it's all off the record.
38:35We're not disclosing the names of anyone we talk 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 it so much, I can't tell you.
38:56I'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.
39:05You told me that as well, that's made me nervous.
39:07This is not...
39:08Grassing is like when you grass on your mates
39:09and blowing the whistle...
39:11Whistle blowing is when you, like, grass on your boss.
39:14Right.
39:16We're going to start.
39:17Um, all right, check this out.
39:21Most water companies get sold every ten years or so.
39:24JP Morgan, Morgan Stanley, Kuwait Sovereign Fund,
39:30Chinese banks, we've had them all, mate.
39:38So, um, Macquarie bought us in 2006.
39:41That's the...
39:42That's the Australian hedge fund.
39:45It's known as the millionaire's factory.
39:47Such are the reputed riches of many of Macquarie's key executives.
39:50The 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
40:01and then rent them back to us.
40:04What?
40:04Wrong-uns.
40:04They make Del Boy look like a fucking amateur.
40:07Then they said that we had to get management clearance to buy pens.
40:13Right to the top to buy a biro.
40:15Not even a parker, not a fancy pen, just 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, okay?
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.
40:57It's still rotting inside.
40:58And they flip it.
40:59They'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.
41:16Right?
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
41:42that 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 the...
41:51in these rivers,
41:52and they're letting their kids swim in the rivers.
41:54What am I supposed to do?
41:54I know what goes in there.
41:56I'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
42:09to control her vital organs,
42:11and unfortunately, they are failing.
42:15I'm really very sorry.
42:18But I think it's time we consider
42:20turning off her ventilators.
42:27So, what do you want to do?
42:35I'm really trying to do it for you,
42:38but I think it's time for you,
42:38and I think we're gonna do it for you,
42:39and we just want to do it for you.
42:41I know we want to do it for you.
42:43I don't think we're gonna do it for you.
42:50You should be 모르 poultry.
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
43:33to have contracted fatal E. coli poisoning from raw sewage.
43:38Ten other people, including four children,
43:41who 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.
44:03If you'd like, we could bring her over to you.
44:17I'll just leave you together for a little while now, okay?
44:25All right.
44:39You're all right.
44:42You're all right.
44:56It's all right.
44:57Okay.
44:58Here we go.
45:00All right.
45:02There we go.
45:04Be careful.
45:05It's okay.
45:06It's okay.
45:06We're fine.
45:07Come on.
45:07Come on.
45:08Come on.
45:10Come on.
45:11Come on.
45:12Come on.
45:12Come on.
45:13Come on.
45:13Come on.
45:39I'll kill you.
45:41You're so, you're sorry about getting in.
45:48Okay.
45:54All right.
46:09So, you know how I taught the machine
46:11to 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.
46:22No.
46:22Oh, no.
46:22Sorry.
46:23Sorry.
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.
46:36So, 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 organized 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 going to 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 Health.
47:43Close the beach before this happens to somebody else.
47:46With their kids, with fishing nets, sitting amongst turds.
47:50Reuben!
47:54Reuben!
47:56We need another whistleblower.
48:22We need another whistleblower.
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