Boycotting our water company

As anger mounts against the privatised water companies over the widespread pollution of our sea and rivers, Felicity Laurence gives an update on the rapidly moving series of events that are fuelling a boycott of water companies both in Hastings and across the country, and explains why she has decided to join in.

“Untreated sewage is being pumped into our waterways and it’s making big investors a filthy amount of money. Privatisation of our country’s water supply has turned out to be a huge con.” Campaign group Led by Donkeys.

With catastrophic sewage leaks in one part of our town, and constant and massive sewage dumping in our sea, people are becoming increasingly desperate. Some of us have decided that withholding the wastewater parts of our water bills is our only way of getting Southern Water to pay attention and really up their game. But perhaps the real endgame is that they relinquish their monopoly altogether…

Public anger throughout the country has turned to fury; children are being poisoned by Thames Water’s toxic discharge into the river at Henley-on Thames, sewage convoys are on the rampage along the River Exe and into Exmouth. Here in Hastings Myriam Lengline described the transformation of the ancient stream in Old Roar Gill into a stinking ‘river of poo’ on Radio Sussex last Friday in what the radio report itself called the ‘ecological disaster’ that has been unfolding for weeks in Alexandra Park.

What’s going on?

In recent days, Thames Water has captured the headlines with its dangerous financial state, and in the resultant renewed scrutiny of water provision everywhere, many other companies have been found to have perilous levels of debt. This revelation comes on top of the increasingly savage criticism of their performance in dealing with sewage – and in some cases, even in the provision of water.

Analysis at this moment suggests that the water companies could be on the precipice of collapse; meanwhile the clamouring for the renationalisation of water has dramatically intensified. The companies’ terror at this spectre of renationalisation is made explicit in the ‘secret’ email published in Saturday’s Evening Standard, in which one water company CEO urges the others collectively to take steps to make sure this never happens.

The national mood can be sensed in the avalanche of reports of anger and boycotting, while Led by Donkeys’ magnificent projection on Thames Water headquarters lays out everything you need to know and be outraged by!

Southern Water – a deplorable track record

Three years ago  our ‘own’ water company Southern Water was found guilty of “corporate environmental crime”, after investigation by the Environment Agency. Boycotter Katy Colley explains:

• When it comes to polluting incidents, Southern Water has proven to be one of the worst performing of the 11 water companies, last year releasing sewage into rivers and coastal areas 16,000 times.
• In July 2021 it was fined a record £90m for widespread pollution after pleading guilty to 6,971 unpermitted sewage discharges in a criminal prosecution brought by the Environment Agency.
• Southern Water had shown a ‘shocking and wholesale disregard for the environment’, according to the judge.
• In November 2022 it was again fined – £28.3m – and ordered to repay more than £50m to customers for missing key targets on pollution incidents and sewer flooding.
• Ofwat, the water industry regulator, said that for the worst performing companies like Southern Water and Thames Water, ‘poor performance had become “the norm”.’

It was this article, published barely two months ago, detailing the arguments and experiences of several local boycotters, that inspired my own decision to join their ranks. Local radio and TV were quick to pick up the the story, and in response to the evident level of interest from far and wide, a website was swiftly set up.

Since its appearance just a few weeks ago, there have been over 1,200 unique visitors, with the average visit lasting seven minutes – so clearly long enough to read through the information posted there. An online meeting followed last week, attended by people not only from Hastings but across the country, since when more have taken the decision to withhold payment for the wastewater services that are simply not being provided in a responsible way; some are cancelling their direct debits and engaging in ongoing complaints to point out their unhappiness with this deteriorating situation.

Furore

More furore has followed Water UK’s announcement that the £10bn investment into infrastructure now so tardily promised by the water companies is scandalously to be paid for by their customers. This escalated quickly when Southern Water’s business plan came into the hands of Press Association – and revealed plans for up to a 73% hike in bills for its captive customers in the years to 2030. This has seeded further outrage and subsequent in-depth reporting in the Times, picked up in the Guardian and other mainstream papers.

Adding yet more insult to injury, Southern Water has refused to give information on their sewage spills when ordered to do so by  the Information Commissioner, and again, declined to provide vital information requested by the team investigating the January flooding of Hastings town centre.

Right now, millions of people feel that the privatisation of water has failed, calamitously. Sewage seems to be released into our sea here every time there is even just a small drop of rain; for example, on 29 June there were over three hours of leakage into Bexhill and St Leonard’s bathing areas as recorded by Southern Water’s Beachbuoy website, where you can also see the 20+ hours of discharges into our sea on 18 to 19 June.

Boycotting in Hastings

During the recent meeting described above, chair Katy Colley and fellow boycotters Olivia Cavanagh, who took the momentous decision to withhold payment over two years ago, and myself spoke of our experiences and the kinds of responses we have each had from Southern Water since taking the plunge – for each of us, a hugely significant decision – and informing the company that we would not continue to pay for the wastewater parts of our water bills. We are not an organisation or even a campaign, but just three of the exponentially growing number of individuals throughout the country who are now boycotting their water company. At this point, we know that of the 11 water companies, eight are under boycott.

On the boycotting website mentioned above, viewers can learn about the steps they can take to make complaints to their water company, and thence to the Consumer Council for Water (CCW), and on to the Environment Agency, the Water Redress Scheme (WATR), Ofwat and ultimately Defra, the Department for the Environment, Food and Rural Affairs. There is information about the legal side of things, and what to be aware of for those who decide to withhold payment: a template letter for making a complaint to your water company, and other resources. There is also an Instagram account with information and updates.

Final words

Katy Colley: Southern Water has had decades to put their house in order and make the necessary investments from the money they collect from our bills. Instead, they paid out millions in dividends, fat–cat salaries and bonuses. Now they want us to pay all over again for the works they should have already done. It’s a disgrace and we are certainly not going to pick up the bill for their greed.

Myself: The Environment Agency has proclaimed the level of pollution to be so ‘appalling’ that it warranted jail terms for water company bosses. I cannot be complicit in what is so clearly confirmed to be criminal activity, and I refuse to support any longer the poisoning of our waters.

Olivia Cavanagh: My daughter is 11. This disastrous devastation of our environment and our seas has eaten into her childhood – she and all the other children shouldn’t have a care in the world as they run into the waves…I’ve had enough. It’s time to stop this NOW!

 

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