Report by Harini Iyengar
We all received the email from BSAC encouraging us to participate in the March for Clean Water on 3 November 2024, however, most of us can honestly say that we would probably not have made the effort to go along, had not Rebecca and Gus organised a club outing, including the enticements of a sociable Sunday lunch afterwards and a possible free firework show.
Although the day was overcast, 13 Clidive members turned out, most wearing blue as requested by the chief organiser, River Action, Rebecca displaying her stunning handmade sculpture of a massive nudibranch, Gus decorated in weeping poo emojis, T carrying an inflated DSMB which was invaluable in keeping the group together in the crowds, others carrying “Stop the Sh-x-t Show” placards, and yours truly festooned with small furry aquatic animals which her children have outgrown playing with.
After assembling in Vauxhall Pleasure Gardens, we joined the march on Albert Embankment in the section in which BSAC belonged. We marched to Parliament Square, where there was a rally with videos, songs and speeches from a range of participant organisations.
We did not meet any other dive clubs but we did meet people from across the whole of England and Wales, of all ages, dressed in ordinary and theatrical ways, including as factory-farmed chickens (whose droppings pollute certain rivers), Wombles, surfers, swimmers, snorkellers, water spirits, drummers, fish, whales and jellyfish. Many brought homemade placards displaying their best toilet humour puns.
The serious reason for those puns was that the March was organised to highlight the intolerable pollution of British rivers and coasts, in particular, by raw sewage, which has been taking place on a massive scale and in breach of environmental protection laws. In 2023, the Environment Agency says, there were 3.6 million hours of sewage spills by water companies into British waterways, which is more than double the total hours of spills in 2022. The regulator, Ofwat, announced proposed fines of £104,000,000 against Thames Water, £47,000,000 against Yorkshire Water and £17,000,000 against Northumbrian Water in August 2024, and says that it intends to hold water companies to account for past failings.
Nevertheless, the mood of the March was disgusted with how poorly British water companies have been regulated in recent decades, whilst shareholders have apparently profited from disrespecting the law and the waterways. Many of us had not previously understood the scale of the flouting of environmental protection laws, or that our water companies are now dominated by majority institutional shareholders on an entirely commercial basis, including overseas institutional investors.
We were struck by how many marchers clearly love their local rivers deeply, and beyond the commodity value of clean water. We hope that the unity, civility and dedication shown by the marchers collectively might lead to some positive action to clean up and cherish our rivers and coasts in the future.
