Residents were left horrified after raw sewage flooded a street in Trentham, Stoke-on-Trent, during heavy rain on March 24. Waste including toilet paper and nappies flowed past homes after drains overflowed, with locals warning it posed a health risk. Severn Trent said tree roots caused the blockage and apologised, with further repairs and a clean-up planned. Source link
Beautiful seaside town where Dirty Business filming took place (Image: Devon Live) A beautiful seaside town loved by locals and tourists was recently featured in a well-watched docu-drama — but for all the wrong reasons. Dawlish is without doubt a stunning Devon location for holidaymakers, however, swimming in the sea could be risky if storm overflows are activated, as raw sewage can spill into the water – and there are five such outlets in and around the town. I recently watched Dirty Business, which highlights the issues of untreated sewage often being released into rivers and seas all around and within the UK. As a sea swimmer myself I can vouch for how depressing that fact is. I keep a careful eye on the free Safer Seas and River Service (SSRS) app which shares alerts and details on sewage discharges. Getting into open water in wild spaces is good for mental wellbeing, but not if you later realise that raw sewage was released nearby. READ MORE: Pretty UK village with abandoned new-build homes boarded up …
.png?trim=0%2C0%2C0%2C0&width=1200&height=800&crop=1200%3A800&ssl=1 "‘A national disgrace’: Readers fume over the UK’s sewage crisis exposed in Channel 4’s Dirty Business")
Get the free Morning Headlines email for news from our reporters across the world Sign up to our free Morning Headlines email Sign up to our free Morning Headlines email The broadcast of Channel 4’s Dirty Business has sparked a strong response from Independent readers, who shared anger, frustration and disbelief at the state of Britain’s rivers and the conduct of privatised water companies. Many readers highlighted the long-standing problem of untreated sewage being pumped into rivers and coastal waters, describing the environmental and public health risks – including incidents of e-coli infection – and drawing attention to the failures of the Environment Agency and other regulators. Several commenters connected the crisis to broader political and economic factors, citing privatisation, deregulation, neoliberal policies and years of austerity as enabling executives to extract huge profits while ecosystems suffered. Offshore investors, corporate greed and government complicity were all called out, with some arguing that the situation represents systemic failure rather than isolated wrongdoing. Some proposed urgent remedies, including renationalisation, stronger enforcement, and even withholding payments from water …
Get the latest entertainment news, reviews and star-studded interviews with our Independent Culture email Get the latest entertainment news with our free Culture newsletter Get the latest entertainment news with our free Culture newsletter The bar for campaigning British TV is ridiculously high. Mr Bates vs The Post Office and Adolescence were stunningly acted and scripted programmes that sent shockwaves around the world. Like those series (and Ken Loach’s Cathy Come Home, the 1966 drama that arguably set the mould for such rabble-rousing gems), Dirty Business identifies something rotten in our society – in this case, the behaviour of privately owned water companies who for at least two decades have made a fortune while knowingly pumping untreated sewage into England’s rivers and seas. Faeces! Sanitary towels! Condoms! Can the rot be stopped? The filmmaker Joseph Bullman makes us part of the answer to that question. Over the course of three episodes that combine acutely distressing scenes with cosy banter and pitch-black satire, we’re basically offered an instruction manual on how to hold the powers-that-be to …
A notice alerting of a sewage overflow area is posted along the Potomac River on Feb. 19, 2026, in Cabin John, Maryland. This week District of Columbia Mayor Muriel Bowser declared a public emergency for the sewage spill in the Potomac River, 30 days after a section of a major pipe collapsed, unleashing millions of gallons of untreated sewage into the river Anna Moneymaker | Getty Images News | Getty Images President Donald Trump has approved emergency assistance to Washington, D.C., to help the city address a sewage system leak that dumped at least 250 million gallons of raw sewage into the Potomac River. The Federal Emergency Management Agency announced Trump’s approval on Saturday, allowing FEMA to provide equipment and resources to help with the response to the Jan. 19 spill after a pipeline ruptured. D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser had requested federal help on Wednesday and declared an emergency. Trump’s approval of the disaster relief request comes after he criticized the handling of the spill, blaming local Democratic leaders and focusing especially on Maryland’s Democratic …
WASHINGTON (AP) — Washington, D.C., Mayor Muriel Bowser declared an emergency on Wednesday and requested that President Donald Trump provide federal resources to help the city fight a sewage system leak that dumped 250 million gallons of raw sewage into the Potomac River in its early stages. “Our number one priority is the district, and that we’re going to utilize all resources, local, federal, and regional, or otherwise, to support operations of the district and what’s best for district residents,” said DC Deputy Mayor Lindsey Appiah in a press call announcing the mayor’s action. The local declaration is asking the president to issue a Presidential Emergency Disaster Declaration. It seeks full reimbursement for the money the city and local utility DC Water are spending on repairs. Among actions, the declaration would “direct FEMA to establish a regular interagency coordination calls among federal agencies, affected states, and the District to maintain shared situational awareness and align federal assistance.” It also calls on a variety of other steps, including asking the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers to …
Maryland Gov. Wes Moore (D) said Monday that President Trump was at fault for the Potomac waste spill, which now appears to be the largest in U.S. history, following scrutiny from the White House leader. “The President has his facts wrong—again. Since the last century, the federal government has been responsible for the Potomac Interceptor,… Source link
The Lib Dem leader will join campaigners at Portobello Beach on Friday. Source link
Channel 4 has announced a brand-new factual drama, Dirty Business, which comes from the team behind the channel’s 2023 hit Partygate. The new three-part series is based on a decade-long investigation into England’s water companies, telling the real stories of whistleblowers and victims who believe their lives have been destroyed after encountering sewage-polluted water. Alongside the announcement, a set of two first-look images have been unveiled, showing cast members David Thewlis (Harry Potter), Jason Watkins (The Crown) and Asim Chaudhry (Tinsel Town). The synopsis for the series reads: “Dirty Business follows the story of two unlikely detectives, who notice that the fish in the river running through their idyllic Oxfordshire hamlet are dying. They contact their water company to find out why, and the company’s strange and evasive reply sparks an investigation that remains ongoing to this day.” Thewlis will be playing Ash, a concerned citizen, and former police detective in a small town in Oxfordshire, who notices that his local river is becoming increasingly polluted. Meanwhile, Watkins will play his neighbour Peter, a Professor …
