United Utilities AGM in Warrington told to 'stop the poo-llution' as protesters campaign over sewage

Campaigners have gathered outside United Utilities to protest against the levels of sewage being dumped in rivers, lakes and seas.

The protest, outside the firm's Annual General Meeting in Warrington, was arranged by Extinction Rebellion as part of its "Dirty Water" campaign.

Local health professionals, wild swimmers, boaters, dog-walkers, anglers and environmental groups joined the protest from across the North West.

One of the campaigners, teacher Hannah Stanton, said: "The crisis in our waterways is a result of corporate greed that sees executives and shareholders pocketing huge payouts while workers’ pay is squeezed, our infrastructure crumbles, wildlife dies and our environment is wrecked.

"In 2018 it was revealed that the CEO of United Utilities had earned an eye-watering £12 million in the previous five years.

"In 2022 alone he earned over £3 million.

"It’s an absolute disgrace that hard-pressed customers’ money is being spent on fat cat bonuses while our rivers and seas are full of turds and tampons. People have had enough."

Another protestor, Renate Aspden, 60, a dissatisfied United Utilities customer and keen walker, said: "On my United Utilities bill it states clearly that I get charged for wastewater usage: ‘the cost of collecting your dirty water, cleaning it and returning it to the environment’.

"Well, that’s clearly not happening effectively. United Utilities is in breach of its contract with all of its customers. This has to stop.

"How can they pay out millions to investors and then tell us it is too expensive to invest in new infrastructure?"

In response to the protest, United Utilities said: "The views of all our customers and shareholders are important to us and we fully respect the rights of those who wish to protest.

"We know that people want to see action to improve river health and today we have outlined our plans for the biggest environmental improvement programme we have ever delivered.

"We are starting early on £1.5 billion of investment over the next two years, building on the 40% reduction of storm overflow operation we’ve already achieved since 2020."

In June two weeks of 'no swim' warnings were issued at eight beaches on the Fylde coast, including all three beaches in Blackpool after raw sewage was leaked due to storm damage of a pipe at a waste water treatment centre in Fleetwood.

At the time United Utilities said the system had temporarily reached full capacity at sites in Blackpool and untreated sewage, mixed with rainwater, was released into the sea.

United Utilities had called the incident an "exceptional circumstance" and engineers worked round the clock to get the issue resolved.

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