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Why I’ll be marching on 3rd November

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Jenny Tse-Leon, Head of Conservation and Impact at Froglife

Froglife is supporting the March for Clean Water on 3rd November 2024.  I have decided to attend this event not just on behalf of Froglife but with my whole family. 

I have to admit the idea of packing up my three young children, to get the train from the south-coast of England up to London, to walk the streets with thousands of other people does fill me with a slight sense of dread.  However, it feels more mad that in 2024 we are still polluting our waterways.

I’m of the generation that grew up watching Julia Roberts films.  At a formative age I saw Erin Brockovich; an extraordinary story of one woman taking on the corporates to stand up for those that weren’t able to take on the fight themselves.  This case shocked the world that groundwater which in turn contaminated drinking water in the communities surrounding the utility plant were being poisoned and people were dying of cancer as a result.

Today, we are not pumping hexavalent chromium into our waters but instead we are facing agricultural runoff, sewage discharge and other chemical pollutants.  This contamination damages our freshwater and marine environments, the wildlife that lives in them and us.

The water system is broken.  Over the last few years, I have experienced this firsthand.  In 2020, a Guardian investigation revealed that raw sewage had been pumped into English rivers via storm overflows more than 200,000 times in 2019.  In 2023, following a prolonged dry period paired with the hottest summer on record we had a hose pipe ban as the demand for water outgrew the water companies ability to supply it.  As a family we dutifully followed the rules and didn’t use water in our garden.  Instead, we aimed to get to the beach as much as possible to cool off.  It has become our new normal to not only check the tide times but to also to check the SSRS app to see if raw sewage has been pumped into our sea water.  On several occasions we had to cancel our trip to the beach as the water was not deemed safe to swim in.  To top this all off we had a leak in our street that was left for over a week to fix which meant that fresh mains water was bubbling out of a neighbour’s manhole running down the street and literally pouring down the drain.

We all have our own reasons and experiences to demand that companies stop polluting our waterways.  The government is listening.  Steve Reed MP, Secretary of State for DEFRA, has announced a review of the water system, a special measures water bill is being put forward and this will be followed by a further Water Bill.  Now is our time to demonstrate how strongly we feel about this and make demands that will change the way water is managed for not just us but our children and their children. 

You can find out more about the March for Clean Water and Register at https://marchforcleanwater.org/

Join the "March for Clean Water" ! - Carvemag.com

An army of frogs Marching for Clean Water

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Froglife has joined a coalition demanding an end to the poisoning of our freshwaters and seas.  We want to invite you to join us at the March for Clean Water in London on 3rd November.  Attendees are being encouraged to wear blue to create a river of people through the streets of London and to get creative with banners, outfits and placards.  So we’d like to see as many frog and toad warning signs as possible!

Thousands of people will be joining the march for a myriad of different reasons from the need for safe swimming water to protecting wild species and habitats.  Regardless of individual motives the message is simple and clear “Stop poisoning our water”.

Froglife has joined the coalition to demand a water-friendly farming commitment, fully funded and effective catchment plans and a nature first approach to regulation and investment.

UK amphibians (including frogs, newts and toads) and reptiles (mainly the grass snake) rely on small freshwater habitats such as ponds, ditches, scrapes, lochs and lakes to breed and hunt.  However, our waterways are being polluted by agricultural waste, raw sewage and other chemical pollutants at an alarming rate.  Other chemical pollutants that have been found to impact amphibians include pesticides, herbicides, fertilisers, de-icing salts and road materials, heavy metals and lead, and further impacts from microplastics have been identified.  Agriculture is the number one cause of freshwater pollution in the UK. 

Amphibians are particularly at risk from the effects of pollution as they have complex lifecycles that include aquatic stages (eggs and tadpoles/larvae) and terrestrial stages (adults).  This means they can experience the effects of pollution directly (i.e. by being sprayed on land) or indirectly through run-off into their ponds.  Their permeable skin easily absorbs chemical pollutants making them early indicators of pollutions events.  The impacts of these chemicals can lead to impaired behavioural responses, impaired growth, increase in abnormalities, delayed metamorphosis (change from egg, to tadpole, to adult) and poor immune repose to other factors because of increased energy use.  Although most of these effects are not lethal in themselves, they lead to a reduction in survival for the animals because they are smaller, weaker and less able to breed and escape predators.

For more information about attending the March for Clean Water visit marchforcleanwater.org

Join the "March for Clean Water" ! - Carvemag.com

March for Clean Water: Feargal Sharkey leads a call for clean water and invites outraged public to join him on October 26th. Stephen Fry narrates film to get “Britain’s waters off life support”

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Froglife has joined a coalition of the concerned calling on everyone in the country angry at the state of water to join us to demand that our new government takes urgent action to address the UK’s alarming and dangerous water pollution crisis by marching through Central London on Saturday 26th October. 

The March for Clean Water, which is timed to mark the end of the first 100 days of the new government, and days before the Chancellor’s first budget (October 30), when environmental campaigners will be watching closely for financial commitments to protect the environment, will involve scores of participating groups and well-known personalities, including river campaigner Feargal Sharkey. 

We are inviting the public to join in one simple demand of Prime Minister, Sir Keir Starmer: to take immediate and decisive action to end the poisoning of our rivers, lakes, wetlands and seas by the lethal cocktail of raw sewage, agricultural waste and other chemical pollutants, that over recent years have been allowed to leave most of our waterways so filthy that they present major risks to human health and untold damage to nature.

This must include:

  • a plan to address the continuous illegal dumping of raw sewage by the water companies;
  • a full set of solutions to end all other major sources of water pollution;
  • the reform of our failed regulatory system, including Ofwat and the Environment Agency, so the law can be effectively enforced against polluters

We urge everyone who cares about clean water to unite and march through central London to Parliament Square on Saturday 26th October.  The march is inclusive, accessible, step free and everyone is welcome to join. Marchers are encouraged to wear blue to symbolise clean water; to let their creativity run free and bring noise, placards, puppets, posters, banners, costumes, marching bands and musical instruments.

Whilst the introduction of a Water Bill in the King’s Speech on 17th July is welcome, the proposed initiatives revealed so far to improve water quality are not nearly extensive enough to address the scale of the UK’s water pollution crisis. It is therefore essential that this prospective legislation includes a comprehensive set of measures to end all causes of water pollution and to do so now.

The March for Clean Water is coordinated by River Action and Feargal Sharkey in close collaboration with Surfers Against Sewage and major charities and governing bodies including the Clean Water Sports Alliance, British Rowing, British Canoeing, British Sub Aqua Club, Froglife, Greenpeace, RSPB, The Women’s Institute, The Wildlife Trusts, Angling Trust, SOS Whitstable, Wildlife and Countryside Link, The Rivers Trust, Ilkley Clean River Group, Soil Association, Windrush Against Sewage Pollution and many local community groups from across the country. 

 

Quote from River Campaigner Feargal Sharkey:

“We call on the Government to end the environmental devastation being inflicted upon our rivers, lakes and seas. It stops here, it stops today, it stops now. End pollution, end polluting for profit. Government must order an urgent root and branch review of the failed oversight and regulation of the water industry.  It is now time to hold to account those industries that for too long now have been allowed to knowingly and wantonly pollute our waters driven by nothing more than profit and greed. We call on everyone in the country who is concerned or angry at the state of our waters to join us and march.”

Quote from Chair and Founder of River Action, Charles Watson:

“The initial noises coming out of our new government regarding cleaning up our filthy waterways, whilst encouraging, do not nearly go far enough to deal with the scale of the problem they have inherited. Nothing short of wholescale reform of our failed regulatory system and comprehensive strategies to address all major sources of pollution, including sewage discharges and agricultural run-off, will suffice. On the 26th of October the public will make this point very clear to Sir Keir Starmer in no uncertain terms.” 

Background to the UK’s water pollution crisis can be found in this hard-hitting short film narrated by Stephen Fry.

For more information about attending the March for Clean Water visit marchforcleanwater.org