We REALLY need to separate out the social justice and environmental action elements of sewage campaigning.
Yes it’s unjust for water companies to profit from bad practice, and maybe the responsible execs/shareholders do need locking up.

But that alone WONT FIX OUR RIVERS🧵
1/11 As a population we have almost zero understanding of how sewage treatment works (or doesn’t).

The bits that do work are a scientific marvel but other bits were designed to pollute, built at a time when almost nobody cared.

The problem is bigger than anyone wants to admit…
2/11

#Sewage
Lots of misinformation being churned out about the DEFRA ‘Storm Overflows Discharge Reduction Plan’, so here’s some context 🧵

I’m not a lawyer, but its part of my job to understand the laws that govern our rivers, how they’re applied, and how they’re supposed to work… Since 1991 it has been illegal to “cause or knowingly permit any poisonous, noxious or polluting matter or any solid waste matter to enter any controlled waters”.

Controlled waters = all rivers, lakes, ponds, groundwater, coastal waters and 3 miles out from territorial waters…

In defence of the Environment Agency: A Twitter rant from an outside observer. 🧵

When I got into this work back in 2007, I wash honestly in awe of the EA in my area. Local officers knew every inch of their rivers, and seemed free to dream up and fund conservation projects… I remember a contractor in big trouble after a fairly minor incident which only almost caused pollution, I remember calling in a mild oily sheen as a pollution incident and being called back the same day with a report from the officer who’d thoroughly investigated it…