Dirty Business: Julie & Reuben’s open letter to the government

If you’ve watched Channel 4’s Dirty Business, you’ll understand why the sewage scandal has finally been blown wide open. The public is angry. The media is paying attention. And now, the Government must listen.

Dirty Business tells the real-life stories behind the statistics – people whose lives have been permanently changed by sewage pollution. Julie Maughan and Reuben Santer are two of those people. Their stories are decades apart, yet painfully connected by the same cause: a privatised water system that puts profit before public health and the environment.

They are not alone. Thousands upon thousands of people have reported sewage-related illnesses to Surfers Against Sewage – and many more never report at all. Meanwhile, bills keep rising, water companies extract billions, and investment in safe, resilient infrastructure continues to fall short. Whilst they get rich, we get sick.

This is not an accident. It is the outcome of a system that has been allowed to fail for more than 30 years.

That’s why we’re calling on Sir Keir Starmer to act. The Government must end the profit-driven sewage pollution scandal, remove the profit motive from our water industry, and put public health and the environment first. And crucially, the Prime Minister must meet the people who are living with the consequences of this failure.

Sign the petition

Below is the open letter Julie and Reuben have written to the Government – on behalf of every swimmer, surfer, paddler and family impacted by sewage pollution across the UK.

Julie & Reuben’s open letter

Dear Prime Minister,

We are Julie Maughan and Reuben Santer, two victims of a water industry that has put profit before public health for more than 30 years. You will have seen our stories on Channel 4’s factual drama, Dirty Business.

These are the facts. Heather, Julie’s eight-year-old daughter suffered a horrific and painful death after contracting E.coli 0157 from a sewage-polluted beach in Dawlish, in 1999.

27 years later, in 2022, Reuben lost his career and the life he had built around the sea after developing chronic Ménière’s disease from repeated exposure to polluted seawater. Our stories are decades apart yet the cause is the same. A privatised water industry that cannot and will not put public health before profits.

The dirty business that is our water industry is not a problem of the past. Since 2019 alone, more than 7,400 people have reported sewage-related illness to Surfers Against Sewage, and that is just the tip of the iceberg. Most people never report, never connect their illness to the water, and never know who to blame. For more than three decades, governments and regulators have looked the other way while water companies extract billions in profit and our waters become some of the dirtiest in Europe. Whilst they get rich, we get sick.

We are calling on you to end the current privatised water industry. Take back control of water companies, restructure them, and remove the profit motive so they operate for people and the environment. Public health must come first and public ownership must be considered. More than 100,000 people have already signed a petition demanding exactly that, in just the last few days.

You were elected on a pledge to clean up our beaches and rivers. You must now deliver. Your government has promised “once in a generation” reform, but your current plans keep us locked into the same profit-first system that has been in place since 1989. We see nothing in them that would have prevented Heather’s death, or that will stop the next swimmer or surfer, like Reuben, getting sick.

We are requesting an urgent meeting with you and the Surfers Against Sewage team so you can hear what this crisis has cost us. Then tell us what you are going to do about it.

Yours sincerely,

Julie Maughan & Reuben Santer

On behalf of the thousands of other victims of sewage pollution across the UK

Now it’s our turn to act

If reading Julie and Reuben’s stories has left you feeling angry, heartbroken, or determined to see change, that feeling matters. Public pressure is the reason this scandal is finally being dragged into the open – and it’s how we force real change.

Add your name to our petition calling on the Government to end the profit-driven sewage pollution scandal and deliver a Water Bill that puts people and the environment first. Together, we can turn outrage into action and make sure these stories lead to change, not more broken promises.

Sign the petition now and help keep the pressure on.

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Haven’t seen Dirty Business yet? Watch it here.