To: Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer

End the sewage pollution scandal

You were elected on a pledge to clean up our beaches and rivers. You must now deliver. For Heather Preen. For every victim of the sewage crisis. And for every bill-payer forced to foot the cost of this scandal.

Why is this important?

We're sick of it. Sick of the lies, sick of the greed, and sick of a system rigged against us. This is a scandal and this dirty business must end. For more than 30 years water companies have put corporate greed and profit before public health and the environment.

Our privatised water system has failed. Sewage pollution is making people sick, destroying livelihoods, and wrecking our environment. Whilst bills rise, water companies extract billions and fail to invest. Whilst they get rich, we get sick.

This is no accident. It was a choice. Since privatisation, the Government and regulators have looked the other way and let this scandal fester. Now our waters are some of the dirtiest in Europe.

After more than three decades of broken pipes, broken promises and a devastating human cost, your Government has pledged “once in a generation” plans to clean up the water industry. But in reality, your plans lock us into the privatised system where profit comes first and the public gets sick.

What are we calling for?

Public health must come first and profit from sewage pollution must end.
The Government must end the current privatised water industry.
The Government must take back control of water companies and restructure them, removing the profit motive, to ensure they operate for people and the environment. No option, including public ownership, should be off the table.

It’s time to end the profit-driven sewage scandal and put #PeopleBeforePayouts

Partner

Surfers Against Sewage

Links

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Updates

2026-05-19 14:48:12 +0100

Tomorrow, we’ll be taking your voices directly into a meeting with Environment Secretary Emma Reynolds - and we need one final push before we walk into that room.

More than 270,000 people have already signed this petition demanding an end to pollution for profit. Help us get to HALF A MILLION signatures - a number this government has to take seriously.

👉 Share the petition now with your friends, family, group chats and communities!

Thousands of you joined Paddle-Out Protests across the UK on Saturday, generating huge national media attention and piling pressure on politicians to act on sewage pollution. Thank you!

This movement is growing because people across the country are standing together and demanding real reform. If everyone reading this gets just one more person to sign, we can make that pressure impossible to ignore.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/c93x1zq5nqjo

2026-05-15 10:39:09 +0100

We’ve hit over 250,000 signatures on our petition. And the government are listening. Now we need half a million voices behind us to end the sewage scandal.

We’ve just been invited to meet with the Environment Secretary, Emma Reynolds, on Wednesday. We will be taking your voices directly into that room. But we want to make our voices even harder to ignore.

If everyone who signs this petition also shares it with one friend, we will reach half a million signatures. Now that’s a mandate Kier Starmer can’t ignore.

This is our moment. The Clean Water Bill is heading to Parliament this year. But it risks locking us into the same broken privatised system that has allowed pollution for profit to thrive for decades. This is our chance to get real reform.

Can you help us hit our target and keep the pressure on ahead of the Water Bill?
Share the petition today. And join our Paddle-Out Protests tomorrow! https://www.sas.org.uk/water-quality/our-water-quality-campaigns/paddleoutprotest/

2026-03-13 20:09:47 +0000

200,000 signatures reached

2026-03-12 14:09:22 +0000

Thanks for signing our petition to end the sewage pollution scandal.

Want to help turn up the pressure? Ask your MP to watch Dirty Business and take action.

Using our quick email tool, you can urge your MP to watch the series and use their voice in Parliament - to push for a meeting with Julie and Reuben, demand an end to profit from pollution, and call for a water system that works for people and the environment.

Take action here:
https://www.sas.org.uk/water-quality/our-water-quality-campaigns/email-your-mp/dirty-business/

2026-03-03 16:57:36 +0000

150,000 signatures reached

2026-02-27 10:39:52 +0000

100,000 signatures reached

2026-02-24 19:39:10 +0000

50,000 signatures reached

2026-02-24 09:01:27 +0000

20,000 signatures reached

2026-02-23 22:53:51 +0000

10,000 signatures reached

2026-02-23 20:20:53 +0000

5,000 signatures reached

2026-02-23 12:13:40 +0000

1,000 signatures reached

2026-02-23 11:51:48 +0000

500 signatures reached

2026-02-23 09:33:25 +0000

100 signatures reached

2026-02-23 06:17:27 +0000

50 signatures reached

2026-02-22 21:55:04 +0000

25 signatures reached