A personal highlight was speaking after English cricketer Ebony Rainford-Brent to 2,500 members of the Women's Institute Annual General Meeting. She was about proposing a national campaign for bathing waters, which is now being rolled out across Britain. This was a perfect warm-up for losing the cherry on top of my political party conference. Imagine the joy of telling thousands of Lib Dem delegates in Bournemouth that we need the polluters and the government to pull their fingers out of their asses and fix their leaking assets!
By saying โnoโ to funding from industry (polluters) or government (regulators), we are free to undertake specific interventions loudly, with a smile, but willing to show sharp legal teeth.
The challenge is to engage constructively with polluters and politicians, simultaneously facilitating and lobbying for systemic change. For example, restructuring and refinancing the water industry and reforming Ofwat and the Environment Agency.
We balance activism, diplomacy, advocacy and litigation, brandishing carrots and sticks. It starts with helping people understand the causes and magnitude of the problems affecting their river; and take their concerns to the perpetrators to achieve urgent changes.
The failed regulatory and industrial system works against many of the people who could be part of the solution. How can it be right that farmers earn just 1p for every ยฃ1 of food profit and the rest goes to middlemen and supermarkets? Talented environmentalists at the Environment Agency are often demoralized by debilitating funding cuts. We must turn perceived villains into heroes.
We have campaigned intensively on the River Wye. It faces ecocide due to the 3,000 tons of phosphates in the manure of the 24 million chickens housed in Intensive Poultry Units.
River Action began supporting local community groups by raising funds for citizen science to gather evidence of agricultural pollution. We map and engage directly with the polluting supply chain, including putting pressure on global corporations Avara and Tesco.
In February we found ourselves in the High Court accusing the Environment Agency of failing to enforce environmental laws that could have protected Wye from agricultural pollution. It's expensive legal work, but we're determined to kick the polluters' butts.
Nor are we intimidated by multi-billion-dollar water companies that allow human waste to enter our rivers.
Drawing on community expertise, such as the river detectives from Windrush Against Sewage Pollution, and with the support of Sir Steve Redgrave, we focus public attention on the sewage crisis perpetuated by notorious polluter Thames Water.
We are doubling our bet in 2024.
Following our complaint to the Advertising Standards Authority about the sham that is Red Tractor food certification, we will target the dairy industry, exposing the toxic combination of low incomes for farmers, exploitative agrochemical industries and supermarkets increasing their profits as that rivers turn into manure. drowned ditches.
Behind the pollution our rivers face, a failed government is to blame.
That is why we will ensure that all candidates and electoral parties for local elections, mayoral elections and the general election places our River Charter at the top of its manifesto priorities.
Whoever wins must ensure that regulators are properly funded and reformed. Likewise, special measures must be imposed on bankrupt water companies that are terrorizing our rivers; and its Byzantine structures simplified and refinanced without overburdening clients.
As I write, the country is inundated by heavy rain and flooding.
It's hard to imagine that another drought is just around the corner. However, our country is not at all prepared for water scarcity. The wild west of the water industry has not only profited from pollution, but also allows 3 billion liters of drinking water to be leaked daily, putting our entire economy at risk.
When London runs out of water (which it will) it could cost ยฃ330 million a day. Next year, River Action adds water quantity to our water quality mission, championing a major campaign to raise awareness about the real and present threat of water scarcity.
We need to engage widely, reaching out to city and country dwellers, going beyond the harsh warnings with hope and humour. Our animation 'This is Sh*t' starring Stephen Fry will cause fits of laughter. The new sewage horror short film 'Black Samphire' will send shivers down your spine.
Join us and we will show the government and industry how to transform poonami into a wave of clear water.
James Wallace is chief executive of the campaign group river action.
