Photo by Guy Reece
Extinction Rebellion has just joined our water bill boycott
by
In 2021, in protest at Southern Water’s sewage dumping crimes which landed the company a record £90m court fine that year, I began withholding the wastewater element of my water bills along with two Whitstable friends; Emma Gibson (a former Greenpeace campaigns manager) and Steve Wheeler (now a Gorrell ward Green Party councillor). We continue to withhold payment to this day.
Sewage dumping continues due to the lack of investment by water companies in necessary infrastructure—though the average pay for a water company CEO is £1.7million a year—the biggest earner to date being Steve Mogford of CEO of United Utilities at £2.9 million.
When a company fails to provide its services satisfactorily, a customer is usually protected by the Consumer Act 2015, but water customers do not have this protection. Instead, as the companies themselves tell us, “no written legal contract” exists for the water customer. Under the Water Industry Act 1991 water companies are obliged by “statute” to provide services and to “fix and recover charges” which we, the customers are obliged to pay—rather like council tax.
We also have no choice about the water company we are obliged to use because that company has a monopoly. Privatisation was meant to lead to better service through competition—as well as lower bills—but the opposite has happened. Since the 1990s investment from the water companies has gone down by 15% and they’ve built up a debt mountain of £60 billion while paying shareholders £72 billion. £2 billion a year on average.
English water companies are more than 70% owned by overseas shareholders, banks and equity funds and our bills have gone up 40% in real terms since privatisation.
After Bob Geldof lent us vocal support in November 2021, our action in withholding payment for an inadequate service gained many more payment boycotters. In June of this year, Hastings boycotters also joined forces with us and Boycott Water Bills was born—along with our website www.boycottwaterbills.com—which gives advice and information to anyone considering taking the same action.
We have always made clear that Boycott Water Bills is not a campaign but a movement of individuals who feel they have no other recourse but to withhold payment. Now, Extinction Rebellion (XR) has joined us with a massive campaign “Don’t Pay For Dirty Water!” by which they aim to get ten thousand customers to boycott the wastewater element of their bills.
My Hastings co-campaigner, Katy Colley, has been working hard while liaising with XR—who have included a comment from us on the following Press Release—which is hot off the press today.
Please share this news widely because one thing we have learned in the last 2 years is that our seas and waterways are being shamefully degraded by the water companies’ greed while the regulatory system is not fit for purpose and the customer complaints process is a sham.
Don’t Pay for Dirty Water campaign vows to get ten thousand to boycott water bills
November 15, 2023 by Extinction Rebellion
Email: press@extinctionrebellion.uk
Phone: +447791737093
Don’t Pay for Dirty Water Campaign contacts:
Caz: 07540 997717
Rob: 07717 474456
Images and videos: https://tinyurl.com/3p25k79s
Bill payers’ boycott targets all major water companies and demands they fast-track infrastructure upgrade and stop dumping raw sewage in seas and rivers
A new campaign calling for ten thousand people to stop paying their wastewater bills, to force companies to end the practice of pouring 11 billion litres of raw sewage every year into UK rivers and seas, is being launched today (15 November) by Extinction Rebellion and local water action groups.
The Don’t Pay for Dirty Water campaign, which targets all of the major water companies, kicked off with a splash, with campaigners swimming beneath the sewage outflow into the River Roding in East London.
The organisers vow to sign up at least ten thousand people to withhold the wastewater or sewerage part of their water bill. By collectively withholding millions of pounds, the boycotters hope to pressure water companies and the government to fast-track infrastructure upgrades and stop diverting ordinary billpayers’ money into massive profits for shareholders while billpayers’ local waterways are poisoned.
Seventeen water companies in England & Wales paid out more than £1.4bn to shareholders in 2022/23. Meanwhile, just one company, Thames Water, dumps nearly 10,000 Olympic swimming pools of untreated sewage into waterways every year and recently announced plans to lay off 300 workers.
Caz Dennett, 52, a research director from Weymouth, who is one of the boycotters, said: “It is a total rip-off to keep paying for a service you aren’t getting. Raw sewage was pumped into seas and rivers in England and Wales 825 times every day in 2022. Meanwhile in the same year water company shareholders made £965m. Enough is enough. The sewage isn’t being dealt with properly so I’ve stopped paying for that part of my bill.”
“More than 200 people that I know of are already boycotting their sewerage bills. This campaign connects boycotters, makes it safer for individuals and more impactful overall.
“If 10,000 people boycott their bills, it will cost the companies millions in just a few months and they will start listening because money is the only language they understand. Together we have power and remember, legally they can’t cut off your water. If you are sick of sewage destroying ecosystems, join thousands taking a stand around the country.”
A step-by-step process to make the boycott process as safe as possible is laid out on the Don’t Pay For Dirty Water page of the Extinction Rebellion UK website, which includes template letters addressed to regulators and advice as well as a counter that goes up as new people sign on.
Matt Hempstock, 49, a watersports enthusiast and public servant from Bristol, is suffering long-term health problems caused by the level of pollution in the River Avon.
He said: “I was kayaking on the River Avon in Bristol when a scratch on my leg became infected by the river’s polluted water, causing severe cellulitis. I ended up in hospital where I was at risk of amputation and could have died, as the cellulitis was progressing into sepsis.”
“I now suffer from recurring bouts of cellulitis and have to carry antibiotics and wear a compression sock to protect against cuts to my left leg—which is now much bigger than my right leg.”
He added: “How can water companies be allowed to continue to pump raw sewage into our rivers and seas when they are clearly endangering human lives, destroying ecosystems and wrecking the tourism economy? This has to stop.
“Beaches have closed across the UK, and people have become sick from rivers. This country needs to start putting people and nature before profits. Don’t pay for dirty water.”
A UK Environmental Audit Committee report states that “a ‘chemical cocktail’ of sewage, agricultural waste, plastic and persistent chemicals is polluting rivers.” It goes on to say that “The prevalence of plastic pollution, the presence of persistent chemicals and spread of antimicrobial resistant pathogens in rivers in England are all issues of grave concern. Not a single river in England has received a clean bill of health for chemical contamination.”
According to an Oxford University study, the targets of the 2022 report are unlikely to be met by current company policies and the regulator, Ofwat.
Katy Colley & Julie Wassmer, spokespersons for boycottwaterbills.com said: ‘We’re thrilled that XR is following in the footsteps of Boycott Water Bills, a website launched in June this year with information and advice gained from those of us who have been withholding payment for up to two years or more.
“The response has been astonishing with dissatisfied customers contacting us from all over the UK and we can report that 10 out of the 11 water companies in England and Wales are being boycotted for their inadequate wastewater treatment services. With a regulatory system not fit for purpose we see no other way to hold water companies to account.”
IMPORTANT
There are links to share for this campaign on social media as follows:
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/p/CzqGjyRN4kc/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/XRebellionUK
X (formerly Twitter): https://twitter.com/XRebellionUK/status/1724699764552282365
And the XR Press Release can also be accessed on this link:
Please post and share these as much as possible to boost awareness of the campaign using the hashtag #DontPayForDirtyWater
ABOUT:
Julie Wassmer is a Whitstable-based author, TV writer and environmental campaigner.
She has successfully fought a number of environmental issues, including fracking in Kent and tree clearances by Network Rail. Her Whitstable Pearl crime novels are now a major TV series, starring Kerry Godliman.
Whitstable Views: How You Can Help
- Make sure you share and like our articles on Facebook and Twitter, and whatever other social-media platforms you use.
- Follow the site to get regular updates about new articles when they appear. Press the “Follow” icon in the bottom right hand corner of your screen and that will take you to the option to sign up. (It disappears as you move the text down, then reappears as you move it back up again!)
- Leave comments on the site rather than on Facebook. Let’s get a debate going. All of our contributors are willing to engage with you if you leave a comment.
- To all writers out there, we would LOVE you to make a contribution. Read our submissions page for details on how to go about that: https://whitstableviews.com/submissions/
- Finally you can donate. As little as £1 would help. Details on the donations page here: https://whitstableviews.com/donate/
Whitstable Views 