My wife Becca died in February after the WONDERFUL
@NHSEngland
gave her 9 extra years living with
#Cancer
But during her illness ambulances didnt turn up, beds were unavailable & Drs were scarce because:
Government cuts increased waiting lists from 2.5m to 6m patients, hospital
Anyone else think
@Feargal_Sharkey
should be awarded a knighthood for his relentless campaigning to expose the water pollution scandal?
Like & share if you agree
(A sainthood may be more appropriate… you need the patience of one to put up with this 💩)
Director of
@Ofwat
wants to block consumer legal ‘class actions’ against water company polluters
Oh & she’s adviser to water industry lobbying group Global Counsel
No conflict of interest here
@Feargal_Sharkey
@RiverActionUK
@adamvaughan_uk
Imagine theUK’s trashed rivers having a Utrecht style makeover?
All those 1000s of miles of defiled polluted concreted ditches breathing life back into our once green & pleasant land…
Where there is hope, there is life
@RiverActionUK
BREAKING:
@theresecoffey
offers helping hand to loo users:🖕
“Let me pop that straight in the river for you”💩
So kind… a glimpse of the
@Conservatives
manifesto?
🏊♀️France: Macron invests €1.4bn to cut the crap from the River Seine for 2024 Olympic swimming in Paris🏊♀️
💩England: Sunak cuts nutrient neutrality pollution legislation for house builders that will destroy our rivers💩
The House of Lords MUST defeat this ecocidal insanity‼️
Breaking news:
@theresecoffey
1st act as new SOS
@DefraGovUK
is to make it easier for agricultural polluters to kill our rivers!! New Env Act target will be pushed back from 2037 to 2040.
This Govt doesnt give 💩 about water emergency😡
#AttackOnNature
In less than 2 weeks this place - Parliament Square - will turn blue as we
#MarchforWater
on 3rd November
To ask our Government to stop the poisoning of our rivers lakes & seas
No more pollution for profit
Enforce the law
Reform the regulators
@MarchforWater
@RiverActionUK
Man hospitalised with life-threatening sepsis after paddling in River Kennet
@Thameswater
response: denial
Does someone have to die before criminally negligent water cos admit responsibility & clear up their💩?
@Feargal_Sharkey
@RiverActionUK
@ARKennet
Outrageous sewage discharge by
@thameswater
foaming like a dirty pint of 💩at Little Marlow, captured on film by
@SteveBackshall
today
Samples sent off to a lab for pathogen testing
The likely result: evidence of a massive dump in our river by corporate profiteers
Thank you,
@Stevebackshall
! 🙌
#riverchampion
THE STATE OF OUR SEWAGE INDUSTRY IS A NATIONAL SCANDAL🤬
Another poignant 📽️ exposing the appalling state of our rivers - courtesy of failing water companies, complete regulatory failure and government inaction.. 1/2🧵
#sewagescandal
BREAKING:
@thameswater
spilled raw sewage during
#BoatRace2024
💩
From Cobham & Windsor through Reading, Oxford & Cheltenham pollution spewed into
#Thames
Can there be any doubt who is responsible for 🤮poisoning rowers with E.coli?🦠
When will
@DefraGovUK
PUNISH POLLUTERS?😡
How about holding an emergency board meeting and sacking
@bencaldecott
for interfering with
@rspb
doing its job?
Let's be clear: NGOs are within the law and right to speak truth to power
Liars, liars, pants on fire!!!🔥
@Cargill
aka
@AvaraFoods
, whose chicken factories are polluting the River Wye, was sued in US 20 years ago for the same ecocide crime!
@HfdsCouncil
@EnvAgency
Wye oh Wye did you let this happen again?
Protect our river & wildlife not corporate greed!
#Beavers
launch in Hampshire!
What a treat to witness Mandy Lieu & Rob Needham of
@BeaverTrust
release a pair at Ewhurst Park
Slowing the flow… one stream at a time…
We are watching you
@thameswater
Long term effect of your sewage in chalk streams is devastating. This is the SSSI protected River Kennet
From afar: stunning wildlife haven🐟🪲🌿
Below the surface: deathly coating of algal sludge☠️⚰️
Thank you
@ARKennet
for trying to clean up
📣Potty polluter complains about use of FOUL language‼️
Dear
@thameswater
I’d like to unreservedly NOT apologise for using the words
SH💩T
T💩RD
💩SS
in my speech to the sewage industry last week
Until you stop sh💩tting in our rivers, we’ll keep saying it how it is: SH💩T
Whoop: new job! I am so chuffed to join the inspiring
@watsonchas
leading
@RiverActionUK
mission to rescue Britain’s rivers.
Please like - share - follow.
Together we will pressure
@DefraGovUK
& polluting industries to wipe up after themselves: high time for no more 💩‼️
We are thrilled today to announce River Action's expansion, marked by the arrival of our new CEO
@jaowallace
🎉
This signifies an exciting scale up in both our funding & campaigning to address the UK's river pollution crisis.
👉
3.5 years since
@G_RhysJones
wrote this excellent piece on the national sewage & agriculture 💩pollution scandal
Literally nothing has improved since
Shame on
@DefraGovUK
& this rotten egg stink of an effluent Government
Bring on the election‼️
This illegal ecocidal madness actually happens!
Literally spraying 💩over a hedge in heavy rain
Will
@EnvAgency
even bother to visit, let alone send a pathetic advisory letter, levy a hefty fine or prosecute?
📣Directors of
@Shell_UKLtd
are being personally sued for causing climate breakdown🔥
⚖️Retweet if you want directors of water companies sued for illegally polluting OUR rivers & sea💩
@Feargal_Sharkey
@SteveBarclay
wants to overturn a landmark Judgement that exposed how
@DefraGovUK
and
@EnvAgency
had completely misunderstood their duties to restore England’s rivers.
He wants to spend taxpayer money fighting us, not fixing the problem.
A 🧵…
The number of communities gathering evidence of
@thameswater
threatening lives and livelihoods along our river is growing
Sonning and Wargrave sign up to join Henley and Marlow at our event tonight
People power v profiteering polluters
At Henley and Marlow River Action event this evening with
@RiverActionUK
@WindrushWasp
@Thames21
et al. Great example of local volunteers mobilising citizen science - monitoring nitrates and phosphates with simple kits and online reporting - for the fight against sewage pollution
THANKS
@thameswater
for my agonising bladder infection since Tuesday
FACTS
🏊I swam at Fawley on Monday
💩Henley sewage works discharges bacteria everyday
🦠E.coli causes 90% of UTIs
⏰alarmists
@RiverActionUK
tested 2964CFU
💷talented TW CEO awarded £195k performance bonus
Meet a short section of the River Kennet in Hungerford
This is what a chalk stream can look like: clean, clear and cold
Sadly, much of this river is smothered by algae from nutrient pollution
🙌 to riverkeeper Rob Nightstar for his heroic work over 40 years
@Feargal_Sharkey
Calling corrupt water companies big agriculture & failing governments
👀Watch out, the public knows about your dirty 💩secrets & we are coming for you with determined smiles & sharp teeth
⬇️Check out this ep of
@8outof10bats
with me
@ChrisGPackham
@MeganMcCubbin
PLEASE SHARE🏹
Beautiful blackbird fledgling peacefully taking in the world after her first flight from ivy nest to fig tree
It’s spring & birds are hungry for wriggly food
Please cut out chemicals & leave wild spaces for insects in your garden🧵
#NoMowMay
@BBCSpringwatch
@Natures_Voice
Breaking: cyanide poisoning causes major fish kill near Walsall. 12 miles of canal closed
New government must fit new dentures to toothless
@EnvAgency
Nothing short of total regulatory overhaul will do
@RiverActionUK
@Feargal_Sharkey
@WindrushWasp
A massive result for our rivers!! Huge congratulations to
@GreenJennyJones
& all those peers in the Lords for stopping ecocidal deregulation
This is surely a sign of hope that working across parties & between NGOs we can protect nature & communities together
According to CEO of
@NatResWales
:
"Prosecuting water companies doesnt help the environment"
You WHAT? The threat of prosecution is so low it doesnt act as a deterrent
Regulators don't regulate. THAT's the problem😡
@Feargal_Sharkey
River campaigner & wildlife champion
@SteveBackshall
warns of vanishing kingfishers & otters near his home on
#Thames
A catastrophe unfolding while
@thameswater
shareholders pillage billpayers & nature
@SteveReedMP
please put this failing monopoly in special administration
River update; what will the long term effects be of sewage releases? For paddlers etc I’d recommend washing your hands before eating. Use the Thames Water storm discharge map especially after heavy rains.
@RiverActionUK
Dear
@_RobbieMoore
Welcome to your new job as Water Minister
Your claim of Tory success on water quality when standards have dropped AGAIN may come back to haunt you
Perhaps some hubris, honesty & accountability from now on, eh?
@Feargal_Sharkey
Yet more high levels of E.coli found in the Thames catchment, this time on the River Kennet
Fantastic to have
@SteveBackshall
campaigning with
@RiverActionUK
to pressure
@thameswater
to stop their profiteering & pollution💩
Thank you
@BBCBreakfast
for sharing our story❤️
Television naturalist Steve Backshall has described pollution found in the River Thames as "toxic".
James Wallace from River Action told
#BBCBreakfast
testing revealed how bad the situation is
While my wife was dying of cancer
@thameswater
raw sewage flooded our home
5.5 million properties face flooding costing £14bn & disease risk rises
But
@DefraGovUK
cuts flood defence projects & lets water cos defecate in our streets
My latest
#PositiveDisruptor
@countryandtown
✨We're delighted to welcome
@GreenJennyJones
to River Action’s Advisory Board!✨
Jenny's roles and impact in UK politics needs little introduction, and her wealth of knowledge will be invaluable for our mission to
#rescuebritainsrivers
Find out more 👉
Why must volunteers like
@watervole3
expose the dirty business of water companies?
Because regulators like
@NatResWales
@EnvAgency
have been stripped of funding, staff & teeth
1146 days of illegal sewage spills in Cardigan💩
0 prosecutions in 5 years🤬
Drought predicted into 2023.
Water companies have had decades to prepare for hot dry weather & low rainfall.
Why didn’t
@DefraGovUK
@EnvAgency
make them invest in fixing leaky infrastructure rather than asset strip & pay dividends?
Holiday from pollution with family in Cornwall…
But no escape: Loe Pool SSSI covered in deathly algal bloom☠️
@LoePoolForum
& Cober Catchment Partnership silent for 3 years
Natural solutions by
@nationaltrust
@CwallWildlife
but when will
@SouthernWater
end the 💩ecocide?!
1/2
@doctor_oxford
Dear
@doctor_oxford
it happened often to my wife before she died from cancer
Sepsis, C.diff, Campylobacter: ambulances late, no bed, no antibiotics
Not
@NHS
fault, medics tried, but not enough staff/beds
A dying women treated like collateral damage in a war on pubic healthcare
My wife Becca died in February after the WONDERFUL
@NHSEngland
gave her 9 extra years living with
#Cancer
But during her illness ambulances didnt turn up, beds were unavailable & Drs were scarce because:
Government cuts increased waiting lists from 2.5m to 6m patients, hospital
@WindrushWasp
investigation exposes
@EnvAgency
board directors hold shares in water companies & agribusinesses they are meant to regulate!!
This is a clear conflict of interest requiring immediate investigation
@DefraGovUK
Share to show your outrage!
41 MPs write to
@Ofwat
boss asking to protect bill payers & stop water company dividends and:
@RiverActionUK
data shows
@thameswater
putting health of 1000s of people at risk
Environment Act gives regulators powers
It’s time for the new
@DefraGovUK
SoS
@SteveReedMP
to use them
Serial polluter
@thameswater
accused
@RiverActionUK
&
@davejvwallace
of being alarmists
Explain our E.coli reading from Henley Royal Regatta course yesterday: nearly 4000CFUs - 4 times
@EnvAgency
limit for safe swimming?
Anyone not alarmed must have something to hide
💩🏠Brick Shithouse Debacle
@michaelgove
: “There will be no abandonment of environmental protection.”
@PeterStefanovi2
: “This is of course complete bollox”
Say it how it is: this government wants to rip up pollution legislation to line industry pockets
Yet more broken promises from this incontinent arse of a Government, leaking 💷 to cronies &💩in our rivers
£227million gone missing from farm payments, the day before
@defra
SoS
@SteveBarclay
will boast of record spending
@SteveReedMP
@Feargal_Sharkey
Fed up with greedy polluting water companies & Government?💷
1) Tell them to take their fingers out of their lying asses💩 & stick them in their leaky assets🚰
2) Share my latest in
@countryandtown
⬇️
3)
#FollowBackFriday
🙂
🧵
I buy my water & sewage services from
@thameswater
28% of my bill is used to service THEIR £14.7bn debt
Check out
@guardian
to see how much you have been ripped off
THEN TELL YOUR WATER CO WHAT TO DO WITH THEIR💩😡
@Feargal_Sharkey
@RiverActionUK
“Who likes dirty rivers? Not I!”
@PaulWhitehouse
& Bob Mortimer, we salute you!🫡
Are you also outraged by the state of our waterways? Then join us in London on Sun 3rd Nov.🪧🌊
Wear blue, get your props ready and let's make this a march to remember!✊
@GreenJennyJones
The three people in this photo have achieved more for us and nature in the past year than a whole Government has since 2010
IMHO they have done more to reverse the devastating impacts of this Government than anyone else too
@GreenJennyJones
@ChrisGPackham
@CarolineLucas
Dear Sir
@BillWigginMP
please stop promoting the interests of river killing corporate factory farms (eg
@AvaraFoods
owned by
@Cargill
) & do your job to protect the health & livelihoods of your constituency.
The death sentence of the
#RiverWye
has your governments name on it.
We were dismayed to read
@BillWigginMP
’s column in the
@herefordtimes
this week.
We’ve written a letter in response, which makes the following points…
🧵
Join
@RiverActionUK
CEO
@jaowallace
in supporting our
#SaveOurChalkStreams
campaign.
We are demanding government provide new legal protections for chalk streams, make polluters pay, and restore England's chalk streams to their vibrant, healthy state! 🔗
Defra likes to claim that most or all sewage overflows are monitored
They seem preoccupied with spinning greenwash laced with poisonous effluent to protect an outgoing Government rather than protecting the health of our rivers & communities
"Revealed: The hidden sewage spills damaging our national parks and beauty spots."
So when govt told you the other day that 100% of sewage dumping locations were now monitored guess what?
It was a lie.
Even international journalism students are cutting their teeth on
#RiverWye
farm pollution scandal
Sydney Johnson, of Maryland USA, is studying in Cardiff
Like us she is shocked by how much Government💩 is in our rivers
@Feargal_Sharkey
@watsonchas
If you are fed up with the sewage & farming shit storm killing our rivers there's something you can do:
Sign the
@RiverActionUK
petition NOW!!
It's time to tell politicians to cut the crap & cough up the dosh
Please retweet - EVERYONE needs healthy rivers
#RescueBritainsRivers
📢Our rivers are in CRISIS. EVERY SINGLE river in England is polluted beyond legal limits. Will you give rivers your voice and help us to
#RescueBritainsRivers
?
Sign our new petition calling on all politicians to restore our rivers to health by 2030 🌊
👉
New Env Sec
@SteveReedMP
commits to get tough on water companies
The
#WaterBill
is showing hopeful signs of baby teeth for new regulation
But we need sharpened gnashers with a steel grip to end the sewage scandal
Time to reform
@EnvAgency
&
@Ofwat
Water companies like
@thameswater
must apologise for destroying our rivers & risking our water security
Government must apologise for allowing this disgraceful profiteering on the back of deregulation
Customers & rivers before corporate greed!!
@BBCBreakfast
@RiverActionUK
'Any investment pumped in now should come from the company itself'
James Wallace from River Action UK spoke to Tina & Ben on
#BBCBreakfast
as bosses of Thames Water are questioned by MPs over sewage and debt
Bored of locking up peaceful climate protesters, Government is getting tough
Banning bonuses for sewage CEOs committing serious crimes
What next?
Stopping Prime Ministers using private jets for telling porky pies?
1 law for them another for us
@Feargal_Sharkey
@carolvorders
Ofwat will consult on banning bonuses for water company bosses if a company has committed serious criminal breaches.
With
@Ofwat
, we're holding water companies to account. If taken forward, this will apply to all executive board members and CEOs.
@thameswater
@VinaigretteGirl
MORE LIES:
@thameswater
says it hasnt discharged raw sewage near Fiddler's Island (NW of Oxford) for 'quite some time'
Church Hanborough & Combe are discharging RIGHT NOW; 4 nearest outfalls discharged 5108 hours in 6 months!!!!
Whole
#Thames
catchment is flooded with their💩
Polluters
@thameswater
publish E.coli data before Regatta: claiming water quality is good
TRUTH
- No testing on rowing course
- Last published test 22/5, 10 days before racing
- 4 out of 18 tests above safe levels
- over 10% above 900CFU so
-
@EnvAgency
rating poor NOT good
🧵
Shocking scenes today as the road that runs through the ‘Golden’ Valley, Herefordshire, is awash with red water as soil runs off fields and is swept down into the River Dore below - and on into the River Wye
@EnvAgency
#SaveTheWye
@FriendsUpperWye
@of_wye
Even water industry investors are fed up with Government delaying cleaning up the sewage crisis in our rivers & seas
Imagine if all those investors demanded water companies put people & planet before profits?!
@watermagtweets
@Feargal_Sharkey
@RiverActionUK
@WindrushWasp
Our brilliant Communities Coordinator, Chloe Peck, has been conducting extensive testing near
@FulhamReachBC
in the lead-up to the Oxford v Cambridge boat race this weekend. 🚣♀️
The results? 👉 10 TIMES more E.coli than safe to bathe in 💩🦠🤢
@SkyNews
#SewageScandal
“The £180m is being brought forward as a form of funding by the water companies. But it's actually being paid for by us [the bill payers] to clean up their mess"
Our CEO,
@jaowallace
, calling out this morning's announcement that WCs are to invest £180m to tackle sewage spills👇
Deluge of cocaine & contraceptive pills from sewage spills & treated effluent are poisoning UK wildlife
Brilliantly exposed by
@DrAlexFord
on
@GMB
It’s not enough that water companies 💩in our rivers & seas but they inject them with a cocktail of chemicals & pathogens too
'Every single marine species that we've looked at so far is full of cocaine.' - Professor Alex Ford
Figures are expected to show last year was the worst for sewage spills in England since monitoring began.
SHOCKING:
@SteveBarclay
gifts new powers to
@EnvAgency
to spank water company CEOs with a dead fish
"Threatening the naughty step just doesn't work. It's time for corporate punishment... and no the EA can't have any more pocket money to enforce the law."
@Feargal_Sharkey
I also wrote to the Environment Agency, welcoming the working relationship we have established and setting out my expectation to hold the sector to account.
The Environment Agency now has new powers to deliver more penalties to help them take action against polluters.
🧵 2/2
@SteveReedMP
at
#LPC23
“Without nature we have no economy, no society, no food, no health. Labour will have a manifesto that will not just protect but restore nature.”
Great. Now let’s see the detail. The NGO community looks forward to helping you.
Wild Live
@WildlifeTrusts
March for Clean Water 💚💦
‘I love being on the water, but at the moment every single river is polluted.
We’re asking the government to end the poisoning of our rivers, lakes and seas.’
Come and join us on the 3rd of November! 🙏
@MarchforWater
@RiverActionUK
@Feargal_Sharkey