Angry anglers, activist surfers, rowdy swimmers - will they save our polluted waters?

Water concerns all of us, and sometimes it’s the unlikely champions that help us to create momentum for change.

It's been overwhelming following the?#unwaterconference2023 and all the news and insights shared by the global water community. There are many echoes of topical discussions across the UK about how to secure clean and safe water in our rivers, waterways and coasts.

When I worked in weather (in a former career as a broadcast producer) I remember being told NOT TO UPSET THE ANGLERS. At the time, angling was the largest participation sport in the UK, with a large and vocal contingent among the weather watchers and the wider audience.?

Now, although numbers are much lower than they were then, fishing is still estimated to involve around 900,000 fishing in freshwater in England and Wales and around 750,000 people who fish in the sea according to the National Angling Strategy 2019-2024 from the Canal & River Trust.?

An unlikely TV hit, Gone Fishing, with veteran comedians Paul Whitehouse and Bob Mortimer, took us with them on their gently amusing fishing escapades, as they reflected on life, health, family and more. Recommissioned since 2018 and through to 2024, the average UK viewing figures in 2021 numbered around 2.3 million. Not to be sniffed at.?

Paul has now created a two-part series, Our Troubled Rivers that explores the state of the UK’s rivers and waterways. His gentle delivery belies the passion and anger expressed by him and others about the scandal of dirty rivers in the UK. The programme puts the blame firmly on water companies and the UK Government.?

While there are certainly many worse - and survival-critical - water challenges around the world, the UK's issues with polluted waterways and rivers, and depleted nature, reflect what we see in many countries. The heated exchanges on social media on the ongoing problems in the UK focus on waste and sewage discharges into rivers, fertiliser run-off, lack of water management generally of these and other problems, and the lack of response to all of these from those in charge.

The UK's DEFRA response to the programme is predictably nervous.?

I would be nervous too. Those concerned about our rivers and waterways are joining the voices from the tourism, surfing and open water swimming communities. There is a cumulatively large and growing audience in the UK that is directly affected in their day to day lives by dirty water, and who are willing to speak up. This is not going to go away.

Photo by Clark Young on Unsplash