2017
2024
THE ISSUES……
PUBLIC or PRIVATE OWNERSHIP???
Since privatisation in 1989, the water companies have used our rivers, lakes and seas as open sewers. The water companies are not British owned, they are corporate monopolies controlled by private equity funds. These rapacious companies are in control of our life giving water. Read more.
People’s Commission Report on the Water Sector, July 2025 details the failure of the privatised water model and describes why public ownership will ensure that water is cheaper, cleaner and fairer.
Read the report.
Stark facts on the poor performance of England’s privatised water sector. Read The Sewage Campaign Network Water Company Performance and Finances Feb 2026.
Severn Trent’s Sewage Pollution Record. Read Surfers Against Sewage Water Quality Report 2025
THE HARMS ON OUR WORLD
The catastrophic effects of polluted water. Watch Channel 4’s ‘Dirty Business’.
River Severn’s deteriorating water quality is resulting in plant biodiversity destruction both in the river and along its banks.
Read ‘Middle Severn Catchment Plant Indicators and Water’ by Roger Meade.
THE RIGHTS OF THE RIVER SEVERN
We all want the Severn to flow on, living its best life.
The river has a right to flow. Water is needed in all aspects of life, especially for non-human communities, the beings that are living in and by it, the ecological indicators of a river.
The Rights of The River depends on the needs of the river and its ecology. Protection of environment and biodiversity is a priority of the highest interest, and calls for an eco-centric approach.
The three keys to a healthy river:
1. The adoption of ‘human rights’ for rivers, in the same way that corporations are granted ‘human rights’, which affords the river intrinsic rights to be.
2. The need for the ecocentric voice of the river alongside legal Guardianship, the balance of river exerts and local knowledge of the river.
3. The vital community involvement ensures life quality for future generations, data from held memory to eco-forensics & civic science to the arts.
Severn is the longest river in Britain (5 miles longer than The Thames) and has the second largest bore in the world !!
