{"id":4330,"date":"2026-05-03T19:23:54","date_gmt":"2026-05-03T19:23:54","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/saveoursandwellcanadageese.org.uk\/?p=4330"},"modified":"2026-05-03T19:50:57","modified_gmt":"2026-05-03T19:50:57","slug":"opinion-dirty-business-is-what-ive-also-been-watching-myself-for-many-years","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/saveoursandwellcanadageese.org.uk\/?p=4330","title":{"rendered":"OPINION- “Dirty business” is what I’ve also been watching myself for many years"},"content":{"rendered":"

OPINION<\/span><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

I had heard of this docudrama before I watched it, having been enthusiastically recommended to see it by a friend. The new media interest in water pollution has been steadily building due to public outrage over the privatised water company swindlers making profit out of failure. In truth the media has failed to expose the situation that has been ongoing for many years.<\/p>\n

I had never really dealt with Severn Trent until 2019 and the disastrous unfolding situation at Smethwick Hall Park and the sewage pollution that caused the deaths and illness of many birds.<\/a> They of course denied it, attempting to blame this on anything else but their own personal failings, human mismanagement and failed regulation under the “self operator monitoring”<\/span><\/strong> mechanism that the Environment Agency appears to have engineered.<\/p>\n

Before this, I had of course been dealing with a similar situation at Rattlechain Lagoon<\/a>, also involving the Environment Agency; a deceitful company of liars who could not lie straight in bed, combined with a teddy bear regulator tucked up together in the land of nod.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>

“The accidental detectives” from Dirty Business<\/p><\/div>\n

I am also one of those “accidental detectives” as described by one of the characters in the Channel 4 three part series, and many things about the programme just clicked given that I recognised myself in the position of the two main protagonists trying to unravel an investigation unaided for years and deliberately hindered by those who should have been investigating harms themselves.<\/a> FOI requests, straight questions dodged by those in company positions, deaths of creatures caused by their pollution, environment agency incompetence- I have also seen all of that played out for real.<\/p>\n

The deaths of fish in the series on the River Windrush open a can of worms regarding a previous case of tragedy involving the death of a West Midlands girl Heather Preen who contracted e-coli after coming into contact with sewage pollution whilst on holiday in Devon. Of course there is a direct connection with this whatever the water company, the EA or anyone else tried to cover up, and it stinks. THE CORRELATION BETWEEN ENVIRONMENTAL WILDLIFE HARMS AND HUMAN HEALTH RISKS ARE REAL.\u00a0<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

This industry like the connected chemical industry is one of uncaring concealed lies, and on confrontation of those lies, they offer vague statements of truth backed up by pr spin in the face of public anger.<\/p>\n

Two individuals employed by the environment agency in high echelon roles come in for particular criticism and scrutiny in the series, and they have questions to answer about their professional integrity when they subsequently jumped ship to the water industry polluters- gamekeepers turned poachers.<\/p>\n

The first “Dr” Toby Willison<\/span><\/strong> is one of those people who use the fake prefix to big up their actual profile. He is a doctor of fuck all, and not a real one, which is only medicine.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Willison swam away with the turds in 2020 and joined the very corrupt sewer pit company that he was charged with investigating<\/a> and the one shown in the drama. It is scarcely believable that this is even legal, and it should be outlawed. It has however happened in the West Midlands where previous employees in a regulatory role at the West Midlands Hazardous waste unit- forerunner to the EA, joined the vile polluter Leigh Environmental- whilst that company were still being prosecuted, see here,<\/a> and here<\/a>. It is my opinion that this man has no morals whatsoever and should face a parliamentary investigation into his role whilst at the EA, who he spoke to and what favours he did for the water industry in that role.<\/p>\n

James Bevan<\/span><\/strong> “led” the EA between 2015-2023 and appears to have been a Conservative Government placed plant. His “regulate yourselves and just let us know if you’ve committed any crimes” as one officer in the EA described it in the programme is a perfect example of what I have been calling out for years regards the EA common incident classification system<\/a>, and calling the polluter mark and “doctor” their own work.<\/p>\n

What type of bent and corrupt individual would come up with a blueprint for organised crime like this- only a water industry bunged whore.\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Bevan joined Welsh Water as “non executive director” after his departure from the EA.<\/p>\n

There is a petition to strip this piece of crap of a knighthood he never deserved- “for services for serving the water industry” and I do encourage people to sign that HERE.<\/a><\/p>\n

But let us not dwell on civil service scum turned private sector prefects. The real heroes of this series are Peter Hammond<\/span> <\/strong>and Ashley Smith<\/span><\/strong> who set up Windrush Against Sewage Pollution (WASP)<\/strong>. You can visit their website and get more of the real events that shaped the series\u00a0 HERE.\u00a0<\/a><\/p>\n

Then there is Chris Hines<\/span><\/strong> who co-founded Surfers Against Sewage<\/a>– a body that have been instrumental in challenging the water industry narrative for many years. Reuben Santer<\/span><\/strong>, was exposed to pollution and his story was told in episode three of the programme.<\/p>\n

All whistle blowers in both the EA and the water industry should also be congratulated for exposing the blatant corruption and web of private investment firms behind the vice.\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n

But perhaps most of all, the courage of Julie Maughan<\/span><\/strong> (Preen) who lost her daughter and also her husband to the scandal that unfolded. She has fought for years alongside others to raise awareness of how rotten this system is and how dirty those in charge of it remain.\u00a0 Pontius Pilates with shit on their hands and Iscariot silver in their pockets.\u00a0<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

Giles Bristow, Surfers Against Sewage Chief Executive, said<\/span><\/b>:\u00a0<\/span>\u201c<\/span>Dirty Business tells the truth the water industry has spent thirty years trying to bury. A girl is dead. Thousands are still getting sick. And what does this Government offer? More of the same. Its hollow reform plan, laughably called \u2018once-in-a-generation,\u2019 tinkers with regulation while protecting the ruthless pursuit of profit. That is an insult to everyone who has suffered, and every bill-payer forced to foot the bill for this scandal.\u00a0<\/span><\/i>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cFor three decades, millions of hours of sewage have been dumped into the nation\u2019s waters while millions in payouts have been siphoned off. But this isn\u2019t about data and statistics. It\u2019s about Heather. It\u2019s about Reuben. A mother in surgery after a swim. A surfer gambling with his health. A child rushed to hospital after a day at the beach. Real people, still suffering, while shareholders get richer. You cannot put a price on clean water. But this Government has. And we are all paying it.<\/span><\/i>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cThe human and environmental cost of the water industry\u2019s corporate greed has just been exposed\u00a0for\u00a0all the nation to see.\u00a0The system is rigged for profit from\u00a0the top to the bottom.\u00a0Prime Minister, profiting from\u00a0pollution\u00a0is wrong. It has always been wrong. Scrap this dirty business now.\u201d<\/strong><\/span><\/i>\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

OPINION I had heard of this docudrama before I watched it, having been enthusiastically recommended to see it by a friend. The new media interest in water pollution has been steadily building due to public outrage over the privatised water … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/saveoursandwellcanadageese.org.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4330"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/saveoursandwellcanadageese.org.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/saveoursandwellcanadageese.org.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/saveoursandwellcanadageese.org.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/saveoursandwellcanadageese.org.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=4330"}],"version-history":[{"count":8,"href":"https:\/\/saveoursandwellcanadageese.org.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4330\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":4342,"href":"https:\/\/saveoursandwellcanadageese.org.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4330\/revisions\/4342"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/saveoursandwellcanadageese.org.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=4330"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/saveoursandwellcanadageese.org.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=4330"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/saveoursandwellcanadageese.org.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=4330"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}