UK River Report #11: Proposals of Personhood and Subterranean Sewage Storage, Departure of Decency During Drought and Windermere's Bacterial Burden

Welcome back dear reader to the eleventh installment of the UK River Report. In this month's post, I will consider the arguments surrounding legal personhood for rivers, some of the short-sighted efforts of Wessex Water in tackling the sewage crisis, while exceptionally dry conditions are apparently no reason for water companies such as Southern Water and Yorkshire Water to take appropriate action in safeguarding our waterways. Lastly, I shall cover the worsening state of Lake Windermere, as neither government nor corporation appears capable of substantiating their commitments to protecting the lake.

Personhood – pollution protection?

Earlier this month, a Bristol-based open water swimming group began a tour across the UK with a giant puppet, as part of their campaign against sewage discharges into public water [1]. The group, which regularly monitors the water quality of the River Avon, have taken inspiration for the design of their puppet from the goddess Avona, considered to be the female personification of the river [1-3]. This coincides with Conham Bathing's campaigning efforts to recognise the river as a legal person [1]. 

The proposal for legal personhood status presents an interesting consideration. Having been widely successful in New Zealand, as well as spreading to elsewhere in the world, this appears a possible means to ensure the protection of rivers and the wider environment, especially in instances where regulation and enforcement of environmental laws remains poor [4, 5]. While this could certainly prove effective in the UK, due to the historic importance of rivers for many communities' livelihoods, evidence of their modern-day recreational and spiritual significance and the worsening issue of pollution driven by private water and successive government failings, it presents a complex challenge in terms of the distinction between human and environmental interests [4, 6]. 

Though concerns regarding its legal unsustainability ought to be clearly addressed, given such slow progress in ensuring the future of our rivers – in any regard; human or environmental – more drastic action such as this may be the only viable option to shift the status quo [5]. 

Wessex Water's subterranean solution:

Work commissioned by Wessex Water to construct a 400,000L subterranean tank is nearing completion [7]. At a cost of £2 million, this forms a part of the company's £515 million investment plan to reduce storm overflows over the next 5 years [7, 8]. Although this ought to benefit the health of the River Were and River Wylye, alongside the community of Warminster, in the shorter term, being another instance of prioritising adaptation over mitigation, the underlying issue of sewage overflows remains and will continue to worsen with climate change, as intense rainfall events become more common [7, 9]. Additionally, if Wessex Water's 2025-30 Business Plan is anything to go by, comprising £3.65 billion of investment, it would not be unreasonable to assume this project is at least partially funded by increased customer bills, as opposed to through shareholder contributions [8, 10]. 

While efforts such as this are more than what can be said for many water companies, upon closer inspection, Wessex Water's green paint begins to chip away, as yet another instance of the vested interests and skewed priorities of a private corporation responsible for our health and environment tarnishes hope for meaningful change.

High and dry:

To further exacerbate the issue of our polluted waterways, this month has witnessed historically dry weather across the UK. From the lowest spring and summer rainfall levels since 1976 in the East of England, to the River Deveron in Aberdeenshire at its driest since the 1970s, and drought in south-east and North Wales, the latter experiencing its driest 6 months since 1976, UK rivers are increasingly under pressure from climate change and abstraction [11-13]. 

Under these exceptional circumstances, what is being done to help?

In Hampshire, Southern Water has applied for a drought order to alter its licence along the River Test, allowing the company abstraction privileges beyond the ecologically safe flow levels [14]. Yorkshire Water has similarly petitioned to Steve Reed for a drought order on the River Ouse, despite the clear evidence that abstraction exacerbates climatic drought impacts, with the disruption to flow resulting in ecosystem fragmentation and species losses, alongside the slower recovery of biodiversity [14-16]. 

This is the same Yorkshire Water under investigation for £1.3 million worth of payments made through their offshore parent company, over an approximately 2 year period, to CEO, Nicola Shaw, despite the government having banned bonuses for water company executives and Shaw, in June of 2023, having very publicly rejected bonuses worth £600,000-£800,000, the month after the offshore payments were discretely introduced [17, 18]. 

This is criminal. This is a disgrace. Yet it is becoming the norm. 

Furthermore, these drought orders would directly contradict the hosepipe bans currently enforced by Southern Water and Yorkshire Water, among several other water companies [14]. 

The things these companies have in common... 

Elsewhere, communities in Somerset at risk of flooding are having essential maintenance work removed, with the region, whose trauma of the 2014 floods remains all too fresh, facing the prospect of similar devastation in the future [19]. Although the Environment Agency insists that their prior maintenance of small rivers and streams, through action including 'discretionary vegetation cutting', had a 'low flood risk benefit', residents believe that it was this lack of maintenance that led to the 2014 floods, with the Environment Agency leaving the area vulnerable [19]. The Somerset Drainage Boards Consortium is currently looking to reverse the Environment Agency's decision [19]. 

Step up, Steve!

Returning to the plight of Lake Windermere, the results from the lake's largest survey of water quality, taken over a two-and-a-half-year period, are disastrous [20]. 

Most of the lake recorded levels of E. coli and intestinal enterococci, indicative of sewage pollution, with summertime holidaymakers most at risk during which time levels were highest [20]. The empty promises of Steve Reed and United Utilities, claiming commitment to cleaning up the lake, are reprehensible, and are allowing Windermere to further decline [20, 21]. 

While the tireless work of Save Windermere and other campaigners is commendable, with the substantial amount of evidence available, the government must take meaningful action to hold United Utilities accountable, or else continue to face scrutiny. 

Thank you for taking the time to read this month's issue of the UK River Report. I hope you found it informative. If you would like to get involved and raise awareness of river pollution in your area, please head over to the UK River Report website and check under the 'Get Involved' page to complete our survey, or feel free to get in touch via the 'Contact' page, if you feel you have more to discuss than the survey can offer. 

With hope for the future,

Federico 

References:

1. Lemer J, Holmes J. Protesters Touring UK in Fight Against River Sewage. BBC; 2025. [cited 2025 August 25]. Available from: https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/ce87dnl8kkko

2. Inglis L. Bristol Residents Want Wild Swimming on the Avon. BBC; 2024. [cited 2025 August 25]. Available from: https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-bristol-68619536

3. Evans ZT. Giant Tales: Goram and Vincent and the Origin of the Avon Gorge. Under the Influence!; 2020. [cited 2025 August 25]. Available from: https://ztevetevans.wordpress.com/tag/river-avon/  

4. Evans K. The New Zealand River That Became a Legal Person. BBC; 2020. [cited 2025 August 26]. Available from: https://www.bbc.co.uk/travel/article/20200319-the-new-zealand-river-that-became-a-legal-person

5. BBC. India's Ganges and Yamuna Rivers are 'not living entities'. BBC; 2017. [cited 2025 August 26]. Available from: https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-india-40537701

6. Bullock C. 'I married the River Avon and it changed my life'. BBC; 2024. [cited 2025 August 26]. Available from: https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cgq22y97n58o

7. Parker S. Giant £2m River Protection Tank is Nearly Complete. BBC; 2025. [cited 2025 August 27]. Available from: https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/c3v3792py5yo

8. Wessex Water. Storm Overflow Investment. Wessex Water; 2025. [cited 2025 August 27]. Available from: https://corporate.wessexwater.co.uk/our-purpose/rivers-and-coastal-waters/storm-overflow-investment

9. McCarthy M, Doherty A, Ciavarella A, Kendon M. Met Office: A Review of the UK’s Climate in 2023. Carbon Brief; 2024. [cited 2025 August 27]. Available from: https://www.carbonbrief.org/met-office-a-review-of-the-uks-climate-in-2023/

10. Wessex Water. An Update on Our Business Plan. Wessex Water; 2024. [cited 2025 August 27]. Available from: https://corporate.wessexwater.co.uk/media/41fnvsbj/an-update-on-our-2025-30-business-plan-august-2024.pdf

11. Parry L. Water Firm Urges Caution in Driest Spell Since 1976. BBC; 2025. [cited 2025 August 28]. Available from: https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/c5y2z387kneo

12. BBC. Water Alert as River Reaches Lowest Levels Since 1970s. BBC; 2025. [cited 2025 August 28]. Available from: https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cyvnlnd9gqjo

13. Devine S. Drought Declared in North Wales After Driest Period Since 1976. BBC; 2025. [cited 2025 August 30]. Available from: https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cx293qqgq84o

14. Horton H, Jolly J. Southern Water Applies for Permission to Draw Water From Rare Chalk Stream. The Guardian; 2025. [cited 2025 August 29]. Available from: https://www.theguardian.com/business/2025/aug/06/southern-water-applies-draw-water-rare-chalk-stream-river-test-hampshire

15. Sarremejane R, England J, Dunbar M, Brown R, Naura M, Stubbington R. Human Impacts Mediate Freshwater Invertebrate Community Responses to and Recovery From Drought. [online] Journal of Applied Ecology. 2024;61:2616-27. [cited 2025 August 29]. Available from: https://besjournals.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1111/1365-2664.14771

16. Boulton AJ. Parallels and Contrasts in the Effects of Drought on Stream Macroinvertebrate Assemblages. Freshwater Biology. 2003;48:1173-85. [cited 2025 August 29]. Available from: https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1046/j.1365-2427.2003.01084.x 

17. Jolly J. Regulator Examines £1.3m Paid to Yorkshire Water Boss Via Offshore Parent Company. The Guardian; 2025. [cited 2025 August 30]. Available from: https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2025/aug/04/ofwat-examines-13m-paid-to-yorkshire-water-boss-nicola-shaw-via-offshore-parent-company

18. Laville S. Bonuses Banned for 10 English Water Bosses Over Sewage Pollution. The Guardian; 2025. [cited 2025 August 30]. Available from:  https://www.theguardian.com/business/2025/jun/05/bonuses-banned-for-10-english-water-bosses-over-sewage-pollution

19. Bullock C, Taylor C. Farmers Worry as EA Stops Maintaining Small Rivers. BBC; 2025. [cited 2025 August 28]. Available from: https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/c24z8vevr1no

20. Laville S. Most of Windermere Polluted With Sewage Bacteria, Finds Biggest Survey of its Kind. The Guardian; 2025. [cited 2025 August 31]. Available from: https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2025/aug/19/most-of-windermere-polluted-with-sewage-bacteria-finds-biggest-survey-of-its-kind 

21. Vinter R. UK Government Vows to Clean Up Windermere After Sewage Criticism. The Guardian; 2025. [cited 2025 August 31]. Available from: https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2025/mar/09/uk-government-vows-to-clean-up-windermere-after-sewage-criticism