Clean Water Watch
A regular column to update readers on the damaging effects of the current management of water in Hastings, surrounding areas (and nationally) and what people are doing about it. If you have any information, please contact [email protected] marked Clean Water Watch.
LESSONS FROM THE POST OFFICE SCANDAL
We can learn much from the Post Office scandal and why it has finally hit the front pages and got everyone talking after years of dogged campaigning. The first thing is that although we know money is the root of all evil, we do need constant reminding of that fact. Secondly, although most people are basically honest and trustworthy, we have a tendency to act in a tribal way, taking sides in any disagreement. Politics and social media aside, this can result in company employees ‘defending the brand’ and believing the narrative they are being fed by management – as appears to have been the case with Post Office Ltd. Changing narratives requires a convincing replacement, and what better than a dramatisation of suffering.
But perhaps the most important lesson is that it is possible to win as long as we are sufficiently tenacious. I say ‘we’ but it usually takes an extraordinary person like Alan Bates (as well as the reporter Nick Wallis) to be the catalyst for action. Without all the hard work, spanning two decades, there would have been no Mr Bates vs The Post Office on ITV. And as one person said recently on social media, “There could be a whole TV channel devoted to scandal dramas.” So once we’ve established that truth tends to go out the window when large sums of money are at stake, we need to be aware of the hard work required to establish and publicise the facts.
BETTER TOGETHER
Another lesson from the Post Office scandal is that we are never the ‘only one’ and are better together. All sorts of groups have been popping up to take on the water companies: Surfers Against Sewage, BoycottWaterBills, WildFish, Windrush Against Sewage Pollution and our own Hastings Clean Water Action. Each one has emerged for different reasons but with one thing in common: holding the water companies to account. And they are now beginning to work together more and more.
Lewes Climate Hub is an alliance of 32 local environmental and community groups ranging from Seaford Environmental Alliance to Lewes Swift Supporters, from Lewes Extinction Rebellion to Compost Club. The hub has also signed up to Wave 5 of the Dirty Water Campaign, a UK-wide wastewater bill boycott. (See lewesclimatehub.org/water). The Dirty Water Campaign itself had already been given added impetus when Extinction Rebellion UK and BoycottWaterBills.com recently joined forces with it.
FACTS ARE IMPORTANT
The narrative from government and water companies is that little can be done to fix the problem of sewage until some mythical time in the future, and that public ownership is not an option. So it was good to read an article in the Guardian written by ‘experts in the field’ on “how to reverse the tide”. How could England’s water system be fixed? 10 January
You might not agree with the proposed solutions of the experts, but they all believe that re-nationalisation is possible and would not be too costly.
Dr Ewan McGaughey, a professor of law at King’s College London, explains how it can be done “using the legal framework of special administration that already exists”.
Richard Murphy, of the Corporate Accountability Network and Sheffield University, believes that no compensation is due to shareholders, or to those who lent money to the companies.
Dieter Helm, a professor of economic policy at Oxford University, does not believe in re-nationalisation, but refutes the view that it would cost too much.
REWARDING FAILURE
Just as Fujitsu has been showered with government contracts despite the Horizon scandal, so in the water industry. Another Guardian article describes how Pennon Group PLC, the owner of South West Water has just been allowed to buy Sutton and East Surrey Water (Guardian, 10 January). South West Water is one of the worst-performing companies for high level of pollution incidents. It will be interesting to see if anything changes now that Fujitsu is in the spotlight.
LACK OF INVESTMENT, LACK OF OVERSIGHT
The government’s bonfire of red tape and systematic running down of the country’s infrastructure has led to a situation where things are beginning to fall apart. A recent article in the Guardian (10 January 2024) addresses issues raised in a comprehensive report published by The Chartered Institution of Water and Environmental Management. The article explains that “increased sewage pollution, urban flooding and water interruptions are the result of decades of failures by the Conservative ministers”. The report points out that “Over 30 years on from water privatisation, with widespread urbanisation and agricultural intensification, a fresh approach – including potential reform of water regulators – is needed.” None of this would surprise most people but it is good to have it confirmed.
An example of this is a BBC online article (18 January) entitled Darlington: Old sewage system ‘will not cope with new houses’. Neither the Environment Agency nor Northumbrian Water raised any concerns about the plans of Darlington Council to build 10,000 homes over the next ten years – according to the council – and the local Conservative MP had been assured by Northumbrian Water there is “sufficient capacity”. However, according to a local Green councillor, the sewage system is known to be overcapacity and that the River Skerne will be environmentally damaged by the planned building. A situation surely that resonates with the people of Hastings.
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