Environmental activists Extinction Rebellion (XR) will hold the 3rd in a series of “Dirty Water” protests in Weymouth tomorrow (Sat 29th July). These campaign actions are aimed at Wessex Water who have frequently and repeatedly year-on-year dumped sewage into the waterways around Dorset, including Weymouth Bay.
The campaigners who will be joined by other concerned local groups, want to highlight the impact on human health, wildlife, and the environment when sewage enters our inland and coastal waterways.
Holiday makers and local leisure seekers may be discomforted to learn that Weymouth’s picturesque and desirable beach is fronted by water that has suffered regular sewage discharges by Wessex Water.
The annual number of serious pollution incidents from Wessex Water has been increasing. In 2021 there were a total of 23,524 sewage discharges by the company over a duration of 151,000 hours.
Wessex Water are not alone in the irresponsible mis-management of our UK sewerage system. Across England there were over 301,000 sewage discharges last year amounting to more than 1.75 million hours of discharge, according to the Environment Agency. That’s 824 incidents per day.
This poor performance nationally, and locally has prompted the Environment Agency to “red rate” six water companies for serious pollution incidents and Wessex Water is one of the shameful six. However, in the financial year ending March 2022, over £60 million was paid out in shareholder dividends by Wessex Water, and their CEO Chris Skellett’s pay and bonuses amounted to almost £1 million.
XR supporter Annika Mermaid, said “I don’t want to swim in water with turds and tampons floating past my nose. I wonder how Mr Skellett would feel if someone dumped poo, sanitary products, and toxic chemicals into the lovely swimming pool he has in his garden. He’d be understandably pee’d off, I know I am! So why is he rewarded for polluting our waters? We demand better for all sea and river dwellers and users”
In April this year Caz Dennett took the decision to not pay her water rates and has recently written to Wessex Water telling them why.
She informed them “I have intentionally withheld payment for my water services bill because of your poor performance in managing the sewerage system. Until now I have always paid my bill on time, and believed that was the right thing to do. However, you are not doing the right thing for customers and our health, for our waterways, for our wider environment and wildlife, and our planet at large. Therefore, you are not upholding your end of the deal.”
Being chased by a private debt collector for the full annual bill she has now paid a portion of it that covers ONLY water supply for the first half of the year and told them “At this time I am UNWILLING to pay any contribution to the sewerage charges, because you have proven you are not competent to manage sewage safely.
“As a customer and a campaigner for clean water, I demand no shareholder pay-outs unless you comply with environmental regulations, and cut the crap from our coastal and inland waterways.”
Weymouth resident and campaigner Alex, who has two young children said “These actions are family friendly and receive a positive response from the public who really get it. There is a growing number of people across the Wessex Water area, and indeed across the country, who are fed up and angry with water companies’ disrespectful and dangerous treatment of our waterways, and the government just idly watch it all happen. But our message is clear, clean up your act before you pocket any profits.”
Surfers Against Sewage keep a close watch on the water companies and their dumping activities, and their website contains lots of useful information about sewage discharging across the country. If anyone is concerned about the water quality in any given area, their Safer Seas and Rivers Service app allows you to check dumping in real-time, and The Rivers Trust Sewage Map is also useful.
Surfers Against Sewage
The Rivers Trust
https://theriverstrust.org/sewage-map
Cazza Dennett
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