YOU have heard the saying, ‘water, water, everywhere, but not a drop to drink.’ A line in the poem by, Samuel T Coleridge, in the ‘Ancient mariner.

According to a number of surveys recently, our rivers are in a bad way. 

The website – Time out.com, has a long list and their top 4 offenders are as follows: 1. River Seven – Seven Trent Water.  2. River Calder – Yorkshire Water.  3. River Aire – Yorkshire Water.  Unknown rivers  – Southwest Water.

Others put different rivers a slightly different orders depending on when they took it and at what spot.

Interestingly, the river Thames is not on their top offenders list. Why most of our rivers are some of the worst in Europe, needs an answer. We all know as in the poem, you can’t drink salty water, without becoming very ill. Sewage in rivers has been a problem for a long time and both governments and companies have not done enough to change this situation.

The recent surveys have now identified a newcomer to add to pollution – micro plastics. These are small bits of plastic less than a millimetre wide. Some, but not all rivers are full of these plastics. If we and the fish can’t drink clean water, then we are all in trouble.

Some of the reasons suggested why this has happened is open to debate, here are a list of them, take your pick to the real cause, but they may all contribute:

Many water companies taken over by foreign companies looking for profits and not acting responsibly to the end users or environment; deficient laws on the Environment; privatisation; billions of pounds taken out of the industry instead of investing in it; over population and housing development without any reasons in national planning policies to stop them, even if the infrastructure is not in place; industry in general not paying enough attention to waste; farm fertilizers runoffs’ and climate change causing heavier rain fall over topping the old sewers and treatment plants. 

This is our water, not some other country’s or even the water companies themselves. We hear the cry coming from some quarters that to get better rivers water, we must pay more! If the billions taken out of the industry had gone on improvement, then maybe, we would not be in the dire state we are in. 

Although the final water we drink is treated, this still leaves the fish in the rivers and seas polluted which is doing long-term harm to the environment. 

We need our water back which belongs to the people and not any company or country. As no-one can live much more than a week without water, we all need to think about not putting wet-wipes and nappy liners and many other objects down the toilet – but put them in the bin! 

Feel strong about this? Then write to your MP and demand urgent action, saying ‘we want our clean water back that has been stollen from us by those who put profit before the environment.’ You could also join many of the save our river campaigns. ‘Let’s get our water back and get it clean!’