Commenting on the apology issued by representatives of England’s water industry for pumping sewage into rivers and seas for years and the announcement of a £10bn investment in infrastructure, Greenpeace UK’s policy director Dr Doug Parr said:
“Cry me a river. After years of relentlessly flooding our streams and beaches with raw sewage, an ‘oops, sorry’ from the water firms won’t cut it. What we need to see is urgent, massive investment to upgrade their tottering infrastructure, drastic reduction in sewage discharges, and beefed-up regulators to make sure it happens properly. The promised £10bn is a start but if it’s all charged on people’s bills whilst the shareholder dividends remain untouched, that would be a very strange way of being sorry. It should be clear by now that we can’t rely on the water firms’ goodwill to protect the health of our rivers and seas. Ministers should be all over this and force these companies to put the public’s good before shareholders’ profits.”
