Pumped-up poo protest over water pollution

Inflatable poo emojis have been placed next to a Buckinghamshire river in protest against a water company asking for leniency over pollution rules.

The campaign group, We Own It, said the plan was part of a deal to settle billions of pounds worth of Thames Water's debts.

It wants the company to be brought into public ownership.

The consortium hoping to rescue Thames Water said it would not be immune from prosecution and hoped to achieve full compliance as quickly as possible.

Thames Water is in debt to the tune of about £20bn and a consortium of UK and international investors, London and Valley Water (LVW), has put forward proposals to rescue the company.

As reported by the BBC, the company has sought leniency on fines for pollution and spillage as part of the deal.

LVW confirmed that Thames Water had not achieved full legal and regulatory compliance yet, and The Guardian reported it would not be completely compliant until at least 2035-40.

We Own It said the proposal effectively sought "to pollute outside of legal limits for the next 14 years".

The BBC understands detailed discussions have taken place over the last five months, and the timescale for full compliance quoted by The Guardian is now out of date.

Campaigners took their campaign, with inflatable reminders of what waste water contains, to the banks of the Rye Dyke in High Wycombe.

Kat Hobbs, the director of We Own It, said: "We've got 14 giant inflatable poos and that is for each year of illegal sewage, and what we're saying is, 'Look, this cannot carry on.'

"What we've been doing is saying to Emma Reynolds, the environment secretary who is the MP for this area, that she needs to say 'no' to the deal that is currently on the table from Thames Water's creditors."

Reynolds has been approached by the BBC for a response.

Keith Dancy, a climate scientist who joined the demonstration, said: "Thames Water charge us for waste water, but what they've been doing with our waste water is discharging it directly back into our streams and rivers.

"They have not been treating it, so they've been taking our money for decades on false pretences - and this is having a terrible effect on our environment."

The firm was fined £122.7m last year for breaches of sewage rules.

A spokesperson for Thames Water said: "The first half of this financial year has been shaped by good progress across all areas of our operational transformation, which included a 20% drop in pollutions.

"We have launched our biggest upgrade to our network in over 150 years to improve our assets, and consequently service to our customers and the environment."

Ash Smith, a campaigner who was played by David Thewlis in the Channel 4 docu-drama Dirty Business, also joined the emoji protest.

He said: "The water industry has built breaking the law into its business model.

"Thames Water is looking to get a holiday from being regulated - a quite bizarre situation."

A spokesperson for London and Valley Water said under its proposals "there will be no immunity from prosecution".

"Our plan will transform Thames Water's operations, investing billions of pounds to upgrade infrastructure, deliver long-term performance improvement and clean up the local environment."

It added that its Performance Improvement and Turnaround Plan had been designed to help Thames Water achieve full legal and regulatory compliance as quickly as possible.

Follow Beds, Herts and Bucks news on BBC Sounds, Facebook, Instagram and X.