The sewage crisis is your fault: How water firms use same deceptive tactics as Big Oil and Big Tobacco

Smoking is good for you; fossil fuels don’t drive climate change – and water companies are doing everything they can to fix the sewage crisis.

According to a damning new paper, these three statements are all examples of “disinformation and greenwashing”.

Environmental scientists have accused English water companies of adopting tactics used by the fossil fuel and tobacco industries to “deny, deflect and distract” from the sewage crisis.

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Professor Alex Ford – the lead author of research published in the journal Nature Water on Monday – said that nine English companies downplayed environmental harms, blamed the public for pollution and overstated the cost of investment to “manage expectations” on bill rises.

“Water and sewage companies have prolonged environmental injustice by using a playbook of tactics other large polluters have relied upon in the past to mislead the public and influence government agencies or laws,” he said.

Campaigners have responded to the news with outrage. James Wallace, from River Action UK, said that companies could face legal action over their behaviour.

“It’s not surprising – it’s business as usual,” he told Big Issue. “They’re borrowing tactics from big oil. It makes us question: is there a legal case to be answered? They are wilfully misleading the public so that they can shirk their responsibilities to consumers.”

How do English water companies use greenwashing to deny sewage crisis?

Water companies pumped 12.7 million hours of untreated wastewater into English waterways between 2019 and 2023.

The nine companies analysed in the study were Thames Water, Southern Water, South West Water, Wessex Water, United Utilities, Anglian Water, Northumbrian Water, Yorkshire Water and Severn Trent Water.

They did everything in their power to avoid taking responsibility for pollution, the report, titled Water Industry Strategies to Manufacture Doubt and Deflect Blame for Sewage Pollution in England, claims.

Companies described sewage discharges as “heavily diluted rainwater” – even when pollution presented a risk to health.

They also “blamed customers” – suggesting flushed wet wipes were the biggest problem for water infrastructure while neglecting vital upgrades.

Companies then exaggerated the cost of solving pollution issues, quoting figures as high as £660bn, to “manage expectations around investment and reform.”

This laid the groundwork for bill increases, Wallace added. Water bills will surge by an average of £31 per year over the next five years from April. By 2030 an average annual bill will be £588.

“The fact that they overstated the cost of investment could be seen as a cynical ploy to justify increasing bills – and put the government off from any attempt to end privatisation,” Wallace said.

“It’s a tactic to say: leave us alone, it’s too costly to put alternative administrative options in.”

The nine companies – 70% of which are owned by foreign investors – have reportedly distributed £76bn to shareholders since privatisation in 1989, while building up over £56bn in debt and neglecting vital upgrades.

Privatisation means that water companies are not incentivised to invest, Matthew Topham, lead campaigner at We Own It, said.

“Instead of investing some of their vast profits into fixing leaks and stopping sewage outflows, the water companies have been paying themselves hefty salaries and dividends,” he warned.

“The solution is simple – modern public ownership. We must take back our water and put it under public control. This removes the competing priorities of shareholder profits vs infrastructure investment. The whole industry is run for the benefit of people and the planet, like in Paris, where they have billpayers and environmentalists on the board who are empowered to hold the company and the directors to account.

“We need this in the UK urgently, that’s why we will be outside the high court in London on Monday (3 February) urging Steve Reed to block the bailout and bring Thames Water into public ownership.”

Thames Water is in particularly dire financial straits; struggling under a £19bn debt mountain, it has asked creditors for an emergency £3bn bailout.

The cash injection comes with a staggering 9.75% interest rate, which would ultimately translate to higher bills.

On Monday, the high court will consider this loan. Reed said in October that he had “ruled out nationalisation” – but if the court blocks the loan, the government is reportedly considering taking the company under a special administration regime.  

This would see it appoint administrators to temporarily take over Thames Water.

Regardless of the outcome, the public will continue to foot sky-high bills – and suffer from the sewage crisis, said professor Jamie Woodward, from the department of geography at the University of Manchester. He co-authored the greenwashing report.

“Public trust in these companies is at an all-time low – the public deserve much clearer communication from the water companies and full transparency on the scale and impact of sewage pollution,” he said.

“Dumping sewage degrades precious ecosystems and poses a real and present danger to public health.”

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