It's so cool, It's so cool, It's so blue and I love it too
I want to take a plunge, I wanna take the plunge, I wanna plunge into you
I want to drink, I want to drink, some of you, I want to taste you, Undiluted
I want to taste some of you, I want to taste some of you
In the sea, in the sea, Naked that's how I 'd like to be
I'd like to feel you, naked against me, I'd like to feel you against me
Eau Water, Eau Water, Eau Water, Eau Water Oh oh oh oh
Eau Water by Cud
Water is life, Water is Love
Water from the skies, water in the rivers, water of the great oceans, water in our bodies, water in our tears. Giving deep thanks for the water in our lives. Equinox Blessings.
In our fixation with carbon, we miss how water makes the climate. Friends are releasing the film Water is Love this World Water Day, March 22nd, with inspiring stories of land regeneration and the creation of microclimates, through work to safeguard precious water. This is the work of human beings acting like the keystone species that we can be, when we are able to escape the trap of the diseased “culture” of capitalist, colonialist, modernity.
We protect what we love. Our water is being poisoned, but there is resistance. Zero Hour provide an excellent overview. We can no longer rely on regulators to protect us, so some of us are collecting our own data, to know what is really happening. River Action recently launched their River Rescue Kit including advice on diagnosing and testing your local river. Surfers Against Sewage (ocean focus) also support vital Citizens Science for testing water bodies. Earthwatch Europe organise water testing events every 6 months, the Rivers Trust has their next one at the end of April.
At the end of this blog are the letters between myself and Severn Trent Water company. I refused to pay a bill back in August 2022. I called my action a “People’s Fine” and gave the money to those campaigning for clean water (the brilliant River Action and fabulous Surfers Against Sewage). The consequences have been minimal (debt collection agency letters, till they eventually gave up and will have left me with a poor credit score). My credit rating is already bad due to this action against Barclays Bank (which also in part got me raided by the Met Police). I don’t need a good credit rating (whereas others might) and I was moving house, so it was a specific circumstance.
If you are considering a non-payment strike there’s helpful advice here from Boycott Water Bills. Cancelling your direct debit is a risk free way to also apply pressure. Extinction Rebellion UK supports the related campaign Don’t Pay for Dirty Water and there are local groups you can join for peer support. Take Back Water is rightly calling to renationalise water companies.
So this is what you get when “the market” is allowed to profit from what are basic human needs… you get a literal and metaphorical shit show.
How getting a salary of £850K (with a bonus package up to £2.25m) means you can’t see the f*cking obvious
That’s the package Chris Weston, CEO of Thames Water is on and we get to hear his thinking first hand because the BBC have been allowed to film inside Thames Water (“so they can tell their side of the story” - an amusing article on the wisdom of that is here).
Big C-Suite pay packages are the way the capitalist system choses people who are willing to ignore the obvious, who don’t apply critical thinking. This is known as wilful blindness. We learn Chris Weston pocketed a bonus of £195k after 3 months in post and we also learn that it would cost about £250k to sort grit in a tank and doing so would save money over time (with the implication that it will never get sorted because the money can’t be found). The Head of Communications jokes about bankers going off to their holiday homes, while she believes they have made a good case to customers for their bills going up. We learn that climate change adaptation has not been factored in as a growing risk faced by the company.
When Thames was privatised in 1989, it had no debt. But over the years it borrowed heavily and now has debts of about £19bn. These are well known extractive processes in financialisation. Shareholders benefit and C-Suite Executives get their bonuses. The BBC also covered the financial shenanigans of Severn Trent in a Panorama at the end of last year.
The Head of Waste accepts Thames has been run as a business, leaving a legacy that is “difficult to stomach” but she “has to accept it and move on and deal with it”. Except it can’t be dealt with. We need those in business to do a Caz Dennet and call out the bullsh*t. (Advice on workplace activism advice is here. Caz has gone on to be a clean water campaigner and bill payment striker - this is what integrity looks like). There are ordinary workers in the BBC programme who risk their jobs by being truthful about the company and the origin of its problems; you can feel them doing the best job they can under the circumstances.
The architect of the privatisation of water companies, Lord Howard, is still defending handing over an essential public service, a monopoly, to the private sector. Pathways to renationalisation are being looked at, (a strong case for it is made here) but those in power are wedded to the religion of the free market. We can have, it seems, only one type of economic system, the type that destroys life, it isn’t even open for discussion in the mainstream.
The BBC fail the public in their Thames Water documentary by missing an opportunity to inform us about the finance curse, sovereign money creation and degrowth, which would help us to understand what is actually happening with our water companies and what could be done instead. I’ve written at some length about how there are alternative economic models (there's also a summary talk here so you don’t have to read all the books!).
These failures and scandals are features of a cancerous economic system and an underlying paradigm of control and domination. Whether it's the Water companies, the Post Office Scandal, the infected blood scandal, the nuclear bomb test scandal, Hillsborough, HS2, the attacks on Stephen Lawrence’s family, Jimmy Savile's decades of predation, climate chaos, forever chemicals in breast milk; the underlying form is an illness, a sort of living nightmare. As my friend John Christensen says, who set up the Tax Justice Network, “Remember the Golden Rule, those with the gold make the rules.”
Take Back Water
So folks, we have to take matters into our own hands. Don’t Pay for Dirty Water and Take Back Water into public ownership. And this week activists went a step further, attempting a Citizens Arrest for public nuisance of Thames CEO Chris Weston alongside his finance director. Compass and We Own It have formed an Emergency Board made up of bill payers, workers and others. The brilliant Climate Choir will be singing on the banks of the River Wye on May 24th- they are looking for more people to join them (beware the revolution that sings!). Clive Lewis MP is leading a Water Bill calling for critical change and including the call for a Citizens Assembly on water ownership, which is also a demand of Dirty Waters’ Water Pressure campaign. Join MPWatch and other water campaigners on March 28th outside parliament to support Clive Lewis with his bill and you can ask your MP to support him. Galifrey support vital research and a number of initiatives. Your local group can join the Sewage Campaign Network. The brilliant Up Sewage Creek folks (featured on the BBC documentary) are holding a People's Assembly on March 22nd with Water Champion Fergal Sharkey. You can join the litigation led by Leigh Day against the polluters of the River Wye. For updates on water related resistance and action there is a discussion chat here and broadcast chat here on telegram.
Should you be reading this in time, friends are organising on this equinox, March 20, a synchronized prayer between 4:00 and 4:20 PM UTC “Together we will acknowledge the consciousness of water, and remember and honor our sacred relationship with water. As we confront an ecological emergency and social crises, let’s pause to revere and celebrate water, the very source of life. To remember how our relationship with water is key to resilience, abundance and thriving life. We pray that millions will rise to protect and repair waters. To love the waters. To serve the coming seven generations.”
There is a much deeper story here, about our relationships, about life, about what it means to say Water is Love; Skeena Rathor Kashmiri writes beautifully about this here. Shamanic practitioner Kate Dineen undertakes River Blessings.
Where is this all going?
As civilisation collapse accelerates, we will have to take charge of our water, our food, our economy, our democracy, all of it. It’s a long haul and too much to do, but this will have to be done, it will become a necessity, as things fall to pieces. We can start now. And by focussing on water we have a chance of protecting our local food production as well as supporting nature to regenerate.
I really encourage you to find a way to watch Water is Love. Resist and Repair…
THOSE LETTERS
Dear Severn Trent Water,
Thanks for your detailed response below with regard to my act of civil disobedience in the non-payment of my final water bill of £155.33. I don’t intend to pay you this amount of money. I see this as a “People’s Fine”. I am paying the money instead to those who campaign for clean water in the UK.
I have done some research to satisfy myself that your response below is inadequate. I note:
The idea that “rivers have dramatically improved” makes no sense when 0% of them are classed as being in good health.
You didn't include in your track record that more than 400 illegal pipes pouring sewage into rivers are owned by Severn Trent
You point to heavy storms as being the trigger for sewage discharges but you are currently discharging sewage in non extreme rainfall events or even in dry spells.
The storm overflows funding commitment from yourselves for the next five years comes to £60 million a year. Severn Trent profits this year (pre-tax) stood at £270 million. Given the decades of under investment, you can and should spend more. Your Chief Executives salary and benefits is almost £4m (as customers face a hike of over 7%)
The commitment to reduce storm overflow incidents average of 20 per year by 2025 could be positive (current national average 29), but needs to be accompanied by commitments beyond 2025 & by a pledge to tackle the most nature rich sites first. Also, of course this is a non-binding target, what consequences will you impose if you do not meet it?
There is no mention of SUDS, which could effectively replace storm overflows given sufficient investment (as well contributing to net zero & nature recovery). Water companies are under-investing in SUDS & overestimating the costs of doing so, more info on this here.
Water is Life and I'm fining you for your ongoing acts of de-spoilage and desecration. The money will be put to better use by those acting to protect our water.
Dr. Gail Bradbrook
Co-Founder, Extinction Rebellion
>>>>>> Your Letter >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>
Our reference: COM-84174-V5L***
Dear Ms Bradbrook
Thank you for your email. I’m sorry for the concerns you’ve raised regarding sewage into water courses.
At Severn Trent we are committed to improving the health of our regions rivers. Over the last 5 years we have improved 1600km and are going even further by improving over 2100km over the next 5 years, spending £1.2 billion. Anglian Water and Severn Trent have launched five Pledges for how we will help radically improve the health of rivers in our regions between now and 2030. I’ve included the 5 pledges at the end of this email.
We do have storm overflows on our sewer system and they are needed to ensure that the sewers don’t back up and flood people’s homes when we experience heavy rain from storms.
Across our region we have over 90,000 km of pipes, millions of manholes and circa. 3,000 storm overflows protecting many thousands of properties from flooding. These storm overflows are permitted by the Environment Agency. Sewage across the region is transported to sewage works and treated. It is only when sewers are overwhelmed with rain water, and to protect people’s homes, that these spills may occur.
If rainwater didn’t get into the sewers then we wouldn’t need the storm overflows. The rainwater comes from roads, streets, guttering that is connected to sewers rather than surface water drainage pipes which flow straight into a water course.
For the rainwater to stop getting into the sewers we need local councils, Highways Authorities, the Environment Agency, housing developers and others to work with us. This is happening but it will take many years to change.
As such, over the last 20 years we have already spent circa. £355m on overflow improvements and we are investing a further circa. £300m on this work over the next five years, as agreed with our regulator, Ofwat.
We have already installed monitors on the majority of our overflows. By 2023 we will have installed monitors on all of our storm overflows, wherever its physically possible to do so. This helps us to react quickly when there is a spill, and we are working with other sectors to find the best way to reduce spills from storm overflows, particularly by avoiding surface water getting to the sewers.
Anglian Water and Severn Trent have launched five Pledges for how we will help radically improve the health of rivers in our regions between now and 2030.
Rivers have dramatically improved over the last 30 years, but we understand these improvements are insufficient and we, as a sector, have failed to keep pace with society’s expectations. Our Pledges are designed to provide a clear focus for the renaissance of our rivers.
Pledge 1 - Ensure storm overflows and sewage treatment works do not harm rivers
Based on Environment Agency measures (RNAGS), our operations will not be the reason for unhealthy rivers by 2030.
Across our regions we will reduce the use of storm overflows to an average of 20 per year by 2025.
Using better data we will find and fix problems quicker than ever before at no extra cost to our customers.
Pledge 2 - Create more opportunities for everyone to enjoy our region's rivers
We will ensure that 90% of people in our regions live within an hour’s drive of a bathing site.
Pledge 3 - Support others to improve and care for rivers
On 1st May this year we launched a new deal for farmers to incentivise regenerative farming practices and provide access to green financing (through partnership working).
We will campaign for the removal of the automatic right to connect for new developments.
We will champion the bill to ban wet wipes that contain plastic and ask for a ban on all wet wipes that are not ‘Fine to Flush’.
Launch regional River Forums, bringing all contributors to river health together.
Pledge 4 - Enhance our rivers and create new habitats so wildlife can thrive
Local targets, including action to plant 1.3 million trees and to help support chalk streams.
Pledge 5 - Be open and transparent about our performance and our plans
We will work with NGOs to ensure we provide the river quality information people want and need to see by end of 2022.
We will make this information easily accessible via our websites by end of 2022.
As well as 100% monitor coverage at our treatment works and on our storm overflows, later this year, we will start monitoring wider river quality and share the results on our websites.
Under section 142 and 144 of the Water Industry Act 1991, persons who occupy premises supplied by us have a statutory liability to us under these provisions by virtue of them being the occupiers. As the occupier you have a liability under statute to pay for our charges and your water bill is payable in full as we’ve supplied you with full services.
If the balance on your account isn’t cleared or a payment plan put in place to clear these charges you may be at risk of debit recover action which will incur additional charges.
I hope the above information addresses your concerns and answers any questions you have.
Kind regards
Kirsty
Service Recovery Team
Severn Trent Water
0800 032 0142