Emeritus Prof Christopher MayMar 1

Once again evidence suggests the water companies are being allowed to 'mark their own homework' by an under-funded Environmental Agency, lacking capacity to make site visits (hardly a mistake; a direct & intended consequence of austerity, as yet only partly reversed).

As the water & sewage scandal, now subject to a TV docu-drama series, becomes ever clearer, one can only wonder how much longer the supporters of privatisation can hold out?

#water #sewage #politics
https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2026/mar/01/thousands-pollution-incidents-england-downgraded-without-site-visit-data-suggests

Thousands of pollution incidents in England downgraded without site visit, data suggests

Exclusive: Whistleblower figures show large rise in ‘serious’ to ‘minor’ downgrades based on water company evidence

The Guardian
Show threadBashStKid

@ChrisMayLA6 I don’t mind if the companies do their own testing, *providing* the frequency, what analysis to do, QC and reporting, and record retention is all under strict external control. (And there’s no reason why that should not be an openly accessible database)

We could even give it a name, maybe the Inspectorate of Pollution?

Mar 1 at 1:36pmWeb