A national "paddle-out" at 12 locations across the United Kingdom, including Brighton in the south, Windermere in the Lake District, Plymouth in the south west and Edinburgh in Scotland, was organised by campaign groups Surfers Against Sewage and Ocean Activists.To the beat of a drumming band and waving placards, the protestors called on Britain’s water companies to do more to prevent sewage discharges.
"We are sick of this sewage and they need to take action," Izzy Ross, Surfers Against Sewage's campaign manager told Reuters. "We need to see an end to sewage discharges into bathing waters by 2030, and we need to see a 90% reduction in sewage discharges across the country," she said. The protest was held as water companies face the biggest wave of public criticism over the dumping of raw sewage and the poor quality of rivers and beaches since the industry was privatised by the then Conservative government in 1989.
Public anger has been fuelled by the payment of dividends to investors and large salaries and bonuses to water industry executives.Surfers take part in a mass protest, organised by Ocean Charity Surfers, to demonstrate against the continued dumping of untreated sewage by water companies off the coast of Brighton, Britain, May 20, 2023. REUTERS/Dylan Martinez