Britain’s dirty seas and rivers. Beach-goers told to keep out of the water. Sewage being released into our rivers. And just who is responsible? Tonight: Dirty Water: What Went Wrong? ITV 2023
Hundreds of thousands of times a year those waters are being polluted by sewage. And research suggests we don’t even know how dirty our waterways are. ibid.
In 1858 an extraordinary heatwave struck London. It was the hottest ever recorded and it caused one of the most shocking and disgusting events in the City’s history: the Great Stink. At that time thousand of gallons of human excrement, factory pollution and even dead animals were being dumped into the Thames every day. The Great Stink of 1858 I: Contagion
The crisis was so devastating it forced the government to undertake one of the greatest engineering projects in history – the London sewer system. ibid.
The waste and raw sewage of three million Londoners was being dumped in the Thames. ibid.
Chief engineer Joseph Bazalgette: He had an extraordinary ambitious plan to transform London’s sewer network. ibid.
4,000 Londoners a year were dying of diseases caused by sewage. ibid.
The biggest public works in British history. ibid.
As a drought hits Britain and a fifth of drinking water goes to waste through leaks, we investigate why water companies are still dumping untreated sewage into our rivers and seas. And reveal how companies are breaking the law. Dispatches: Britain’s Water Scandal, Channel 4 2022
Why the Environment Agency is not up to the job. ibid.
The state of our rivers and seas is so bad that some water companies are now under criminal investigation over their sewage dumping practices. ibid.