Autumn Round-Up: Taking The Fight For Clean Water Further
From Downing Street to the docks of Liverpool, from citizen scientists testing their local rivers to communities lobbying their policymakers en masse, the fight for clean water has been rapidly gathering pace, and there’s plenty to celebrate.
340,000 voices at Number 10
London, UK. 3rd September 2026. Surfers Against Sewage Petition
We kicked off September by taking an enormous wave of public support right to the heart of Government. On 3 September, Surfers Against Sewage and 38 Degrees delivered a petition signed by more than 340,000 people to Number 10, calling on the Government to end sewage pollution and put public health before profit.
That’s 342,187 people who took the time to say: enough is enough. People who believe they should be able to swim, surf and spend time in the waters they love without having to worry about what might be lurking beneath the surface. A freedom that sewage pollution continues to put at risk.
We were joined by Julie Maughan, whose eight-year-old daughter Heather tragically died after contracting E. coli from contaminated water, and singer Becky Hill, who was moved to take action after watching Channel 4’s Dirty Business documentary. It was a powerful day, and a stark reminder of what’s at stake whilst bringing the outrageous realities of sewage pollution into sharp focus.
From petition to local action
Weston-super-Mare MP Dan Aldridge with Mass Lobby lead Debbie, pledging support for our asks. 23rd October 2026.
We’re not letting those 340,000 signatures gather dust. Following our hand-in at Number 10, we launched our Mass Lobby, which took place from 22nd-26th October. This took the campaign for a stronger Clean Water Bill straight into communities across England and Wales. The mission? Get MPs, policymakers and other political representatives talking to the people who know their local waters best, ensuring that they really understand why clean water matters to the those who they were elected to represent.
This is a crucial moment for the Bill, which MPs will soon be voting on. While it’s still being drafted, we have an incredible opportunity to influence what makes it into the final legislation. We need a Clean Water Bill that delivers meaningful change, holds polluters to account, tackles sewage pollution and puts the health of people and our environment first. By sharing local experiences, showing MPs what sewage pollution means for their communities and making it clear that their constituents are demanding action, we can build pressure on the Government to get this right. The more decisionmakers that hear from the people who swim, surf, paddle and spend time beside these waters, the harder it becomes to brush the problem aside.
To help campaigners get involved, we also launched our #CleanTheBill microsite, packed with information and actions to help people make their voices heard. Whether it’s inviting an MP down to a favourite beach, raising concerns at a surgery or getting stuck into digital campaigning, there are plenty of ways to keep the pressure on.
And what a response we’ve had. Two named storms tried to put a dampener on our Mass Lobby weekend, but campaigners weren’t deterred. We saw 28 events take place across England and Wales, with hundreds of people turning out in person and thousands more taking digital action between Thursday and Monday.
As always, communities brought plenty of imagination to the task. In York, campaigners held three events with MPs, including a trip out rowing on the River Ouse. In West Bay, our Protecting Wild Waters community brought their MP and Wessex Water into the conversation about cleaner, healthier waters. Meanwhile, in Exmouth, subtlety lay dead in the water, as around 150 people gathered on the beach alongside 111 giant poo cut-outs representing the days of sewage at their local beach, gaining the attention of national media.
Leaside, UK. 24th October 2026. Fisherman Jon at the River Lea Vigil
Elsewhere, a vigil for the River Lea and an art display in Seaford saw a unique telling of constituents’ experiences. From beach protests to riverside gatherings, people found inspiring ways to bring the issue right to their MPs’ doorsteps.
Our New Wave Youth Panel got involved too, taking the campaign into conversations with MPs and making sure younger voices were part of the call for change. Across the events, people were raising all things water – from designation status and water infrastructure to the sewage pollution affecting their favourite swimming spots. One of the most encouraging things to come out of the Mass Lobby was the response from MPs themselves, with some even urging campaigners to maintain the pressure, while recognising that these conversations are making it harder for the Government to put the issue down.
Our first ever Mass Lobby was a reminder that campaigning isn’t just about making noise in Westminster; it’s about connecting the decisions made within its distant walls to the people and places they affect. There’s a long journey ahead, and we’ve taken a monumental first step. A huge thank you goes out to all the fantastic volunteers; event leads and everyone who took part and made their voices heard. We couldn’t have done it without you!
Whether you’re contacting an MP in Westminster, an MS in Wales, an MSP in Scotland or an MLA in Northern Ireland, your voice matters. Our waters might face different challenges across the nations, but the call for cleaner, healthier waters, free from sewage pollution, is shared. We’ll keep working with communities and elected representatives across the UK to make sure that call is impossible to ignore.
A dip with a difference
Liverpool Docks, UK. 29th September 2026. Surfers Against Sewage Labour Conference Dip.
Looking back to September, our policy team were busy attending various Party Conferences, seizing the opportunity to speak directly with policymakers about the fight to end sewage pollution.
At the Labour Party Conference in Liverpool, our policy team joined up with Paddle UK and Swim England for a very different kind of political meeting: a dip in the docks. Around 50 MPs and delegates joined us, including Lisa Nandy and Stephanie Peacock, getting into the water and talking with us about what clean water means for health, wellbeing and the communities they represent.
Bringing decision-makers face to face with the places affected by sewage pollution helps strip away the abstract lens through which the issue is so often viewed. This isn’t an intangible or invisible environmental problem. These are the waters people swim in, paddle on and spend their weekends beside. For us, that’s exactly where the conversation needs to start.
Highlighting health in the water-quality conversation
We’ve also been digging deeper into one of the most important parts of the sewage story: what pollution means for our health. Our annual Water Quality Report, citizen-science work and Data HQ are helping us build a clearer picture of what’s happening in our waters, bringing together scientific data with the experiences of the people who use them.
Last month, we held a scoping session with Kingston University around a potential three-year PhD looking at emerging pollutants in waterways and their impacts on human health, whilst also developing a partnership with Cardiff Metropolitan University to explore the public-health impacts of water pollution.
There’s still so much we don’t know about what’s making its way into our waters and what that could mean for the people who use them. Our evolving work alongside academics, healthcare professionals and established institutions is a vital route into building the key evidence that fuels our campaign work. The more we know, the harder sewage pollution becomes to ignore.
Communities are becoming citizen scientists
All over the country, people are rolling up their sleeves and getting stuck in.
Through our Protecting Wild Waters work, we’re supporting communities to test their local waters, gather evidence and stand up for the places they love. In Portobello, a local citizen-science group is preparing to welcome its MP to a future sampling session. Their work has already reached Parliament three times, with their MP raising the group’s citizen-science efforts. This citizen scientist group are not only creating data but driving pressure for change.
A big step forward for Too Polluted to Protect
There was also some seriously good news for our Too Polluted to Protect campaign this month as we were granted permission for our judicial review to proceed, taking us one step closer to challenging changes to bathing-water legislation that could leave some of our most loved wild waters without the protections they need.
The English and Welsh government have introduced a new ‘feasibility test’ for proposed bathing waters, which would assess whether a site could be improved to meet the required water-quality standard before it can be officially designated. This means that numerous locations could be ruled out on the basis of them being too polluted or too expensive to clean up – meaning that environmental regulators will not be required to monitor the water. This would ultimately leave the people who swim, surf and paddle there without the official water-quality monitoring and protections that bathing-water status brings, with l
Our challenge, brought with environmental law specialists Leigh Day, argues that these changes are unlawful, undermining the purpose of bathing-water legislation and putting public health at risk. You can read more about why we’re challenging the Government and what’s at stake on our website.
In a huge step forward for the campaign, the court has granted permission for our case to proceed to a substantive hearing, due to take place on 24 and 25 February at the Royal Courts of Justice. This means we’ll have the opportunity to challenge the Government’s changes in court and fight for the protections our waters and the people who use them deserve.
People don’t stop swimming, surfing or paddling just because a stretch of water isn’t officially designated. People will keep using the places they love, but without the monitoring, investment and accountability needed to help make them cleaner and safer.
We believe wild waters deserve protection too, and we’re prepared to take that fight all the way to court. This is a huge win, and a vital step for the campaign and for everyone fighting to protect our rivers, lakes and beaches.
Tackling sewage from all corners of the UK
Clean water is a UK-wide issue, and we’re thrilled to have our work growing across Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland.
In Wales, we’ve been responding to consultations, both independently and alongside other environmental organisations, while working to make water a priority for the next Senedd term.
In Scotland, we’re now part of a coalition calling for ambitious action from the Scottish Government, including a Bill to improve water quality. This further exemplifies why the ongoing English Clean Water Bill and Mass Lobby actions are so important; they could potentially set a precedent for wider and prospective legislation across the UK!
Different waters, different communities, different political landscapes, but the same fundamental demand: our waters deserve better.
Northern Ireland: listening to the people who know their waters best
There has been some exciting momentum building in Northern Ireland as well in recent weeks, as our Northern Ireland Wild Waters Survey is helping us understand how people use their local waters, what those places mean to them and whether they’ve become ill after entering them.
Survey respondents have reported illnesses consistent with those reported by water-users in England, Wales and Scotland, including stomach problems, vomiting, diarrhoea, skin rashes and ear infections.
On 28 September, MLA Andrew McMurray raised bathing-water policy in the Northern Ireland Assembly and asked the Minister to meet with SAS. The Minister agreed, giving us an opportunity to bring what we’ve heard from communities directly into the conversation about the future of water policy in Northern Ireland.
It’s another sign that our work is growing as we continue to expand our reach, gather evidence, and work our way into the rooms where decisions are being made.
A changing tide for the water industry
There’s been movement elsewhere in the water debate, too. On 29 September, the Government announced plans to remove existing limits on government ownership of shares in major water and sewerage companies in England, as part of its strengthened Water Bill proposals. We’ll be watching closely as those plans develop. Whatever happens next, our focus won’t change: cleaner water, healthier people and a water system that works for the public and the environment.
And that’s September and October wrapped up…
What a couple of months for our Campaigns and Policy team! From taking the fight for a stronger Clean Water Bill into communities across England and Wales to building momentum in Northern Ireland, we’ve been rallying people, challenging decision-makers and making it clear that sewage pollution cannot be allowed to continue unchecked.
And we’re nowhere near done. We’ll keep turning up, speaking out and pushing for the changes our waters desperately need. Because our rivers, lakes and seas deserve better, and we won’t stop fighting until they’re wild, beautiful and free from sewage.