UK in Deeper Sh*t than Are We (Literally)

[SorellaLaBefana]

England raw sewage taskforce has only met once in last year...

...The storm overflows taskforce was set up in August 2020 after the Guardian first uncovered the scale of raw sewage discharges into rivers by water companies.

It is made up of representatives from government, regulators, the water industry and environmental NGOs. Its terms of reference state: “The taskforce will meet fortnightly, with exact frequency and timings of meetings at the discretion of the chairperson in consultation with the group members.” Its goals are “to develop: proposals to significantly reduce the frequency and impact of sewage discharges from storm overflows short-term actions to accelerate progress to reduce the harm caused by storm overflows”.

Last August the group published its storm overflows reduction plan, which gives water companies a deadline of 2035 to reduce the amount of sewage flowing into bathing water and areas of ecological importance. Water companies were given a deadline of 2050 to stop dumping raw sewage elsewhere...

https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2023/jun/08/england-raw-sewage-taskforce-met-once-in-last-year-storm-overflows

Reflect on this for a moment.

Many rivers and beaches in UK are covered with RAW sewage and are therefore unusable. The current Tory (conservative) government in power for over a decade has, for years, done absolutely nothing to address the issue which grew worse by the month. Privatisation of the water systems in England and Wales was carried out (to the benefit of donors) by a Tory government in 1989.

When finally pressured in 2020 to address this unconscionable state they formed a committee to solve the problem. This was to meet Every Two Weeks until the problem was solved.

Apparently, they have met very infrequently and after finally publishing their recommendations in April 2022—which gave the private water companies until 2035 to "...reduce the amount of sewage flowing into bathing water..." and until 2050 to "...stop dumping raw sewage elsewhere"—they have met only once!

Really. No change until 2035, and no prohibition of dumping raw sewage until 2050?

Tories, like the GOP, are no longer even pretending to give a sh*t about literal rivers of sh*t flowing through the land.
In 1858 the stink from the sh*t filled river Thames finally forced Parliament to stop the discharge of raw sewage into that river—a tale well told in Stephen Halliday's wonderful 2001 book "The Great Stink."

There is a newer book on the same subject by Rosemary Ashton "One Hot Summer." This is less sharply focused on that particular issue; but, does explore the social context in which Parliament was forced into action.

For all of their professed reverence of the past, this remarkable step seems to have been forgotten by the current UK government.

The UK topical comedy podcast "Catharsis" takes a (brief) look at this, and other current issues. The best takeaway for me was the question of why the British keep putting up with this, why there is no demand to have adults in charge of the country.