Why the Channel 4 series is sparking national outrage and why we support Surfers Against Sewage.
The UK’s sewage crisis has been making headlines for years. But the recent Channel 4 series Dirty Business has brought the issue into the living rooms of millions of viewers and sparked a wave of anger about the state of our rivers, seas and beaches.
The three-part drama-documentary exposes the reality behind Britain’s polluted waterways: a system where environmental protection has often been overshadowed by profit, weak regulation and decades of under-investment.
For many viewers, the programme has been a wake-up call. But for campaigners, swimmers, surfers and coastal communities, the sewage crisis is something they’ve been fighting for years.
At ecojiko, protecting the environment is at the heart of everything we do. That’s why we donate 5% of all website sales to Surfers Against Sewage, an organisation leading the fight to clean up the UK’s rivers and seas.
This blog explores what Dirty Business reveals about the UK’s water system, the shocking scale of sewage pollution, and why the movement for change is growing.
The TV series exposing Britain’s “dirty business”
Dirty Business follows the real-life investigations of whistleblowers and campaigners who uncovered evidence of widespread sewage pollution and regulatory failures in the UK water industry.
The show centres on activists and environmental investigators who discovered suspicious sewage discharges in rivers like the Windrush. Their findings suggested that wastewater was being released far more frequently than the public had been told.
Reviews of the series describe it as a powerful and timely drama that captures the scale of the environmental crisis and the frustration of those trying to expose it. Many critics have compared its potential impact to other investigative dramas that sparked major public debates.
The series also highlights whistleblowers who claim regulators and government bodies failed to act on warnings about pollution raising serious questions about oversight of the industry.
The shocking scale of the UK’s sewage pollution
If the story told in Dirty Business feels unbelievable, the statistics behind the crisis are even more alarming.
Data compiled by environmental groups and regulators shows that sewage discharges are happening on a massive scale across the UK.
In 2024 alone:
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There were 592,478 confirmed sewage discharges into UK rivers and seas.
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These spills lasted a combined 4.7 million hours the equivalent of more than 500 years of sewage pollution.
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When under-reporting is taken into account, the real number of discharges may have been closer to one million incidents in a single year.
That equates to almost one sewage discharge every 30 seconds.
The problem is not just the number of spills but how long they last. In England alone, sewage flowed into waterways for 3.6 million hours in 2024, the longest duration on record.
For rivers, beaches and wildlife habitats, this level of pollution has devastating consequences.
Pollution incidents are rising not falling
Water companies are required to reduce pollution incidents over time, but recent figures show the opposite trend.
In 2024, 2,487 pollution incidents were recorded in England, the highest level in a decade.
The industry had actually been given targets to reduce pollution by 40%, yet instead incidents increased by around 30% during the same period.
For many campaigners, this raises serious questions about whether the current regulatory system is working.
Investigations have also suggested that some serious pollution incidents may have been downgraded by regulators without full investigation, further undermining public trust.
The human cost of sewage pollution
Behind the statistics are real people whose lives have been affected by polluted water.
The Channel 4 series highlights stories of swimmers, surfers and coastal communities who have experienced illness after entering contaminated water.
Data collected by Surfers Against Sewage shows that thousands of people have reported becoming sick after exposure to polluted waters in recent years. Since 2019 alone, more than 7,400 people have reported sewage-related illness through the organisation’s reporting systems.
In 2024, the group also received 1,853 sickness reports, with many people requiring medical treatment after exposure to polluted water.
These cases include symptoms such as:
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Severe stomach infections
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Gastroenteritis
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Skin infections
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Respiratory illness
For swimmers and surfers, the risk of illness has become an increasingly common concern.
How did the UK get here?
The UK’s water industry was privatised in 1989, creating a system where regional water companies are owned by private investors.
Since then, critics argue that the structure has encouraged companies to prioritise financial returns over long-term infrastructure investment.
Investigations have found that water companies have accumulated £73 billion in debt while paying out more than £88 billion in dividends to shareholders since privatisation.
Meanwhile, ageing sewer systems and inadequate infrastructure have struggled to cope with population growth and increased rainfall linked to climate change.
Storm overflows which were designed as emergency systems to prevent flooding during heavy rain are now frequently used to release untreated sewage into rivers and coastal waters.
Campaigners argue that this reflects a system that has allowed pollution to become normalised.
The role of Surfers Against Sewage
One of the organisations leading the fight against sewage pollution is Surfers Against Sewage.
Originally founded in the early 1990s by surfers concerned about water quality, the charity has grown into one of the UK’s most influential environmental campaigning groups.
Today, Surfers Against Sewage runs national campaigns to:
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End sewage pollution in UK waters
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Increase transparency around water quality
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Hold water companies and regulators accountable
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Protect rivers, lakes and coastal ecosystems
Their Safer Seas & Rivers Service alerts water users when sewage discharges occur near beaches and swimming spots, helping protect public health.
Through citizen science, campaigning and public awareness, the organisation has helped expose the true scale of the UK’s sewage crisis.
A growing movement for change
Public anger around sewage pollution has grown rapidly in recent years.
Surveys show that many people feel frustrated by rising water bills while pollution continues to increase. In fact, research suggests that over a quarter of adults in England have considered refusing to pay their water bills due to anger about the situation.
Campaigners argue that the system needs urgent reform, with calls for stronger regulation, tougher penalties for pollution and greater investment in infrastructure.
The Channel 4 series Dirty Business has amplified these concerns by bringing the issue to a national audience.
For many viewers, the show has transformed sewage pollution from an abstract environmental problem into something personal and urgent.
Why this matters to us at ecojiko
At ecojiko, sustainability isn’t just about the products we create it’s about the impact we have on the world around us. Not only that, we love nothing kore than jumping in the sea and splashing around in rivers and we're not that keen on swimming in crap!
Healthy oceans, rivers and ecosystems are essential for wildlife, communities and future generations.
That’s why we donate 5% of all website sales to Surfers Against Sewage, helping support their work to protect the UK’s waterways.
Every purchase from ecojiko helps fund campaigns, research and activism that push for cleaner rivers, safer seas and stronger environmental protections.
Clean water should be a basic right
The sewage crisis highlighted in Dirty Business raises a simple but powerful question:
How did one of the world’s richest countries end up with polluted rivers and beaches?
While the debate about solutions continues from stronger regulation to potential changes in ownership models one thing is clear: the current situation is unsustainable.
Clean water should not be a luxury.
It should be a basic right.
And protecting the rivers and seas we all share is something none of us can afford to ignore.
Help us and Surfers Against Sewage end this scandal. Sign the petition here:
