Words by Smiley Team
2021 is kicking off to a positive start for our oceans, with a significant breakthrough from grassroots movement Surfers Against Sewage. Together with a huge range of other organisations, the group launched its #EndSewagePollution campaign and prompted water companies to increase transparency about how their activities impact pollution levels in the sea.
The group teamed up with environmental NGO’s, local campaign groups, national governing bodies, and media as well as almost 50,000 ocean activists across the country to drive forward the campaign.
The result? All water companies across the UK have promised to make real-time data available about how much sewage they release into bathing sites, and have agreed to publish on their websites the number of times they pump raw sewage into the environment annually.
Amy Slack, head of campaigns and policy said: “We welcome today’s announcement from the Storm Overflows Taskforce as their first step in helping to tackle sewage pollution. We are especially happy to see water companies commit to providing real-time monitoring data all year round. This is vital to allow water users to make informed decisions about when and where they choose to surf or swim.”
Nevertheless, the organisation still believes there is much to be done to tackle sewage pollution in our waters. In 2019 alone, companies discharged raw sewage into UK rivers over 200,000 times, threatening the health of water users, wildlife and the environment.
Slack explained: “The announcement falls short of the calls that almost 50,000 of us made to the Government as part of our #EndSewagePollution petition. If we really are going to eliminate the harm caused by sewage pollution we need to see rapid action from government, business and regulators to eliminate the long term causes of pollution.”
If you are interested to join or support their mission you can sign up as a member or donate via their website. 76 per cent of their funds go to campaign efforts, 13 per cent covers further fundraising activities and the remaining 11 per cent pays for administrative work.
