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Up Your Standards

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Independent Water Commission

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The Problem

  • In 2024, water companies dumped raw sewage into England’s rivers, lakes, and seas for 3.6 million hours across 464,000 incidents. And serious pollution instances rose by 60%.
  • Meanwhile they waste over 3 billion litres of drinking water every day putting water security at risk for our growing population.
  • Since privatisation, £73 billion of bill payers’ money has lined investors’ pockets while water companies racked up £65 billion in debt.
  • There have been only 63 pollution prosecutions since 2015 resulting in £151 million in fines—a mere 0.001% of water companies’ combined debt and dividends.
  • Meanwhile, budgets to the Government’s Environmental Department was slashed by a further 2.7%, letting polluters off the hook, worsened by a new Government that is fixated on economic growth.

Water: A Story of Hope

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Our Solutions

River Action provided a comprehensive joint submission to the Commission’s call for evidence in early 2025 with Surfers Against Sewage asking it to:

End the failed privatisation experiment and stop investors plundering our sewage system and water resources. Bring back accountability, and put the environment and communities first.

Adopt proven financial and governance models that prioritise clean rivers and protect customers. Learn from Germany, Denmark and Switzerland where public, private and not-for-profit finance is blended, with communities represented on water company boards.

Properly fund, empower and restructure the Environment Agency and Ofwat to protect rivers and wildlife, combining local municipal oversight with national resource planning and regulation.

No more excuses—ensure polluters face real consequences for breaking the law – with tougher penalties that incentivise investment in fixing the problem, and no more loopholes.

Pass ambitious legislation using the Commission’s recommendations for water industry and regulatory reform in the next parliamentary session.

Make the agricultural sector accountable for its role in river health with a review into the causes of and solutions to farm pollution, championing pioneering farmers and regenerative practices.

What we have done

Alongside Surfers Against Sewage, we have analysed the Water Commission’s final report recommendations against our five core principles for real reform. Our conclusion? While the Commission makes some useful noises about reform, it ultimately ducks the bold changes needed to end sewage pollution and protect people and nature. You can read our full indepth analysis here to understand how the Commission performed when measured against our principles – and why the Government must now go much further with its upcoming White Paper.

While we welcome the Independent Water Commission’s efforts to highlight the crisis facing our rivers, we believe the final report falls short of the bold, systemic solutions urgently needed and ultimately offers “the illusion of change – not real change”. Read our full reactive response here.

 

On 18th June 2025, River Action and Surfers Against Sewage held a crucial Water PollutionAPPG meeting in Parliament. MPs had a vital opportunity to demand more, directly questioning Sir John Cunliffe — to urge the Water Commission to show true leadership, provide solutions to uncomfortable truths and difficult decisions, and chart a bold course for real reform.

Before the meeting was held, we ran a campaign asking the public to send this letter to their MP, asking them to attend the APPG meeting in Parliament.

We submitted a joint response with Surfers Against Sewage to the Independent Water Commission for bold reform of the water industry and regulators, urging a new approach that prioritises communities and nature over the broken privatisation model. We tapped into the expertise of top minds to inform our submission, working with renowned academics like Professor Ewan McGaughey, Professor David Hall, and Dr. Laurence Jones to explore smarter, fairer ways of financing, governing, and regulating water companies.

We created a clear, no-nonsense, question-by-question guide to help the public respond to the Water Commission’s Call for Evidence. Hosted on our River Rescue Kit site, the guidance cut through the jargon and made it easy for people to have their say. Almost 5,000 people used it to take action and demand urgent reform of our failing water system.

To highlight the urgency and opportunity behind the Water Commission’s Call for Evidence, we launched “Water: a story of hope” , an animated explainer narrated by Deborah Meaden. The film inspired widespread engagement, reaching over 220,000 views on Instagram. It sparked meaningful conversations around water protection and successfully encouraged the public to share their voices with the Commission.

Through the electrifying March for Clean Water, we unleashed massive public pressure on the Government. Hundreds of communities from every corner of the country joined forces, and our coordinated national media campaign amplified their voices, demanding change on a monumental scale. In the lead up to the march, we wrote directly to Steve Reed, the Secretary of State for Environment, Ministers to demand a full review of the water industry and much-needed reform of its regulators.

Our efforts paid off. The Government responded by establishing the Independent Water Commission—and River Action earned a seat at the table.

What We Are Doing

In response to the shortcomings of the official report, River Action is proud to support the People’s Commission for Water, led by four leading academics and campaigners. They have taken evidence from sector experts and water users, and draw on international experience to devise policy options for a sustainable, equitable and effective water system.


This Commission brings together the lived experience and local knowledge so often ignored by traditional institutions to offer bold recommendations to fix our broken water system. Read the report in full here.

With public trust at an all-time low, River Action is calling on the Government to show leadership and adopt legally enforceable targets and reforms that:

-End pollution for profit and the privatisation model
-Prioritise environmental and public health
-Return control of the UK’s water system to the public interest

The Water Commission’s final report ultimately offers the illusion of change – not real change. We’ll be pouring over the final report with a fine tooth comb to make sure we have been listened to. We’ll also be shouting loudly to make sure the voices of communities, campaigners and the environment aren’t drowned out by corporate interests or political convenience.

As Co-Secretariat of the Water Pollution All-Party Parliamentary Group (APPG), alongside Surfers Against Sewage, River Action is helping to drive political momentum for cleaner, healthier waters. We are equipping MPs to champion bold action by supporting their scrutiny of the Water Commission, shaping policy recommendations, and ensuring water health remains high on the political agenda.

Take Action

If you want to see Britain’s rivers clean and thriving, there are many actions you can take to make a difference.

Rescue Your River

River Action is a small and agile campaigning organisation on a mission to rescue Britain’s rivers from a cocktail of agricultural, sewage and industrial pollution.

River Rescue Kit

Resources

The People's Commission on the Water Sector

Independent Water Commission Final Report July 2025

Water Commission consultation

River Action and Surfers Against Sewage's joint response to the Water Commission

APPG on Water Pollution

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