Fighting for Britainβs rivers
Water industry is one of the biggest sources of pollution says campaigner Feargal Sharkey
England is seeing its water industry heaped with debt and its environment get more and more degraded, warns clean water campaigner Feargal Sharkey.
The former punk rock musician says the companies responsible for Britainβs water infrastructure are forgetting about the environment.
Speaking to HARDtalkβs Stephen Sackur, Mr Sharkey said βWhen you have a company operating the monopoly, you need a system of regulation capable of delivering and ensuring not only the interests of the customer and bill-payers, but the environment.β
He hit back at water companies claims that have seen billions of pounds of investment.
βWhen water companies mentioned the word investment, it's not in the sense that you and I and most people would think of it - that the shareholders have taken cash out of their back pockets,β says Mr Sharkey.
βAny money spent by the water companies has actually been funded by bill payers.β
Mr Sharkey is leading the campaign to clean up Britainβs waterways with fishermen and conservationists pitted against the privatised water industry and state regulators.
