Paul Whitehouse is staggered by the “liquid death” he encounters while investigating Britain’s rivers.
In two hard-hitting documentaries, the keen angler sets out to discover whether the nation’s water companies are illegally discharging untreated sewage into our waterways in a bid to cut corners and increase profits.
In Our Troubled Rivers, he seems to find plenty of evidence that they are.
In the first episode, Paul learns that regulations on when firms are allowed to discharge sewage – during high rainfall only – are apparently being ignored.
Paul, who has starred in Gone Fishing with Bob Mortimer since 2018, meets Mark Barrow, who regularly films beneath the surface of Yorkshire’s River Wharfe as sewage is being pumped in.
Mark, who wears a wetsuit for the job, says: “You’ve got to see it to believe it. Quite often when I get out I’m covered in everything that’s been flushed down the toilet.”
Mark shows the collection of wet wipes and sanitary products he has scooped up.
Paul, 64, tells him: “You wouldn’t get me in there, not in a million years.
“Oh my God. It’s liquid death. That is deeply unpleasant. It’s obvious that if you show that to people they’ll be appalled. It defies belief.”
Since 1989, when the water firms were privatised, they have become big business. In 2022, Yorkshire Water made £240million profit and United Utilities made £600m. Paul also meets heartbroken angler Chris Clark at the River Tame in Manchester.
He says it was “soul-destroying” to see raw sewage pumped into the river on a day when the Environment Agency was replenishing fish stocks.
Prof Jamie Woodward, professor of physical geography at the University of Manchester, says the Tame has the highest concentration of microplastics recorded on any riverbed in the world.
He claims that this proves United is discharging untreated sewage, because the treatment process is 99% effective at removing them. He also says it must be at times of low flow – which is illegal – or they would be washed away. The water company disputes his findings.
In the Cotswolds, retired maths professor Peter Hammond and ex- police officer Ashley Smith are trying to hold the water firms to account.
The claim that raw sewage is only discharged during stormy conditions is “complete rubbish”, they say.
Ashley claims that since 1989, £72billion has gone from the industry, mostly to stakeholders in China, Canada and Abu Dhabi.
The campaigning pair believe that the solution is to return the firms to public ownership.
Paul, who also meets pop star-turned-campaigner Feargal Sharkey in the show, adds: “I still find it astonishing that the water companies would put untreated sewage into our rivers.”
Paul Whitehouse: Our Troubled Rivers, Sunday, BBC2, 8pm
