Growth for who?: The true cost of water pollution

By Henry Shepherd, Communities Coordinator, River Action

“Economic growth is the number one mission of this government” says Rachel Reeves.

Yet, as rivers fill with sewage and budgets for environmental protection are slashed, many small businesses and communities that rely on clean water are being left behind – or worse, shut down.

Across the UK, water pollution is no longer just an environmental and public health issue – it’s an economic one. Behind every brown plume, fish kill, or no-swim warning, there’s a person whose livelihood is taking a hit.

These aren’t abstract numbers or distant disasters, these are real people – watersports instructors, anglers, B&B hosts, event workers – who depend on rivers being clean, safe, and healthy. However, as the toxic cocktail of agricultural runoff, raw sewage, and chemicals continues to flood our waterways, and environmental oversight is gutted, many are finding themselves on the losing end of the government’s “growth” agenda.

“I’ve been shut down and unable to sell my product due to sewage spills upstream… I’m now effectively without a source of income”

Calvin, watercress farmer from Hampshire

The new Labour government has made no secret of its intention to turbocharge economic growth. This growth is achieved via cutting environmental budgets, and stripping regulators of the resources they need to hold polluters accountable. Those who end up winning are corporate shareholders – and the losers are small, local businesses that are being slowly drowned in polluted waterways. This has knock-on effects across entire local economies – the pint in the pub, the B&B, and the stop at the shop after your fishing trip hit local communities in ways we can’t always measure.

“Once a thriving business, I now haven’t taken on a customer in 12 months.”

Angela Jones, watersports business owner on the River Wye

It’s a bitter irony: the very communities that should be benefiting from Labour’s pursuit of ‘growth’ are being stifled by the fallout of short-term thinking and insufficient regulation. River-dependent businesses losing trade due to smell and stigma – cancelled sports events  and family holidays – river users unable to work after getting sick. Entire local economies are being dragged down by the stink of polluted rivers.

This is a symptom of a system that values profit margins over public health, investor returns over infrastructure, and “growth” over anything remotely sustainable. That’s why we’ve written to the Prime Minister and the Chancellor to urge them to end the era of cuts to Defra.

“We rely on membership subs for our Rowing club to survive … .if you don’t want to get sick, why would you pay to row on a nasty river?”

Tom, Club Captain at Durham University Rowing Club

Until water is protected like the public asset it is – not a dumping ground or a corporate cash cow – these stories will keep piling up. And so will the pollution. As the government finalises its spending plans on 11 June, we’re forced to ask:

Growth for who?