Something Stinks! End Sewage Pollution Tshirt.

50% profits from the sale of this tshirt go to Surfers Against Sewage.

Tshirt Details

• 100% combed and ring-spun cotton (Heather colors contain polyester)
• Fabric weight: 4.2 oz/yd² (142 g/m²)
• Pre-shrunk fabric
• Side-seamed construction
• Shoulder-to-shoulder taping

Sewage Pollution – Something Stinks!

Pollution plagues our rivers, seas and coasts, making us sick, spoiling our favorite swim spots, destroying delicate ecosystems, killing our wildlife, and threatening ocean recovery. Sewage pollution is everything we flush down the loo or wash down the drain that is released into the environment through sewer overflows, or that washes off the land and roads. Poor waste management is also to blame.

Despite years of investment, sewage and agricultural pollution still plague rivers and the ocean. Huge volumes of contaminated effluent and run-off mean the UK is ranked last in Europe for bathing water quality. This pollution puts water users at risk of contracting harmful illnesses including viruses and antimicrobial resistant bacteria. A report by the European Centre for Environment and Human Health (ECEHH) highlighted that sea bathers in the UK remain just as likely to become ill from seawater as they were in the 1990s. Poor water quality also prevents individuals enjoying the mental and physical wellbeing benefits associated from engagement with the ocean environment.

The UK’s antiquated sewerage system is woefully inadequate. Water companies have failed to invest to protect the coastal and river environment. They instead rely on a network of around 18,000 licensed sewer overflows to routinely discharge raw sewage into rivers and the ocean. In 2021 alone sewage discharged into rivers and seas 370,000 times for a total of 2.7 million hours.

Polluters have simply been profiteering off pollution. Water companies have paid out an eyewatering £60 billion in dividends to shareholders over the last 30 years. And fat cat CEOs are often granted six figure pay packets every year. And to make things worse, the government are now allowing water companies to self monitor their environmental performance resulting in ever increasing abuses of the system. In 2021, Southern Water were fined £90 million for serial misreporting and the Environment Agency and Ofwat have launched the largest ever investigation of water company behaviour after water companies admitted they may have illegally released untreated sewage into rivers and waterways. The weak enforcement of existing regulation from consistently underfunded and under resourced environment agencies means there is no effective driver to ensure water companies change their behaviour.

And as if the stench of the sewage stink could not get any worse, the current water quality testing regimes designed to protect water users and the environment are set up to fail us. Evidence shows that we have a water quality testing regime that wilfully discounts and ignores the worst pollution events in the country and thus misleads the public about the safety of the waters

Water quality in numbers

• 62 serious pollution incidents were reported by UK water and sewage companies in 2021 – the highest number since 2013. (Environment Agency, 2021)
• The environmental performance of the UK’s water and sewage companies fell to the lowest level on record in 2021. (Environment Agency, 2021))
• Sewage was dumped into designated bathing water over 5,000 times during the 2022 bathing season (15th May – 30th September) (SAS Water Quality Report)
• 9,216 sewage pollution discharge notifications were issued between October 2021 and September 2022 (SAS Water Quality Report)
• Just 7 out of 10 of the UK’s bathing beaches are rated as excellent – meaning nearly a third need improvement. (Bathing water classifications 2021, Department for Environment Food & Rural Affairs)
• 14% of the UK’s rivers are considered to be in good ecological health, and every single one of them fails to meet required chemical standards. (The Rivers Trust, 2021)
• In the 2021/22 financial year, water companies paid out a total of £965 million in shareholder dividends (SAS Water Quality Report)
• Water company CEO’s took home an eyewatering £16.5 million in the 2021/22 financial year (SAS Water Quality Report)

Get involved in active campaigns here – Surfers Against Sewage –  https://www.sas.org.uk/