A ‘paddle-out protest’ at Castle Mound and The Embankment in Bedford on Saturday (20 May) is taking place to raise a stink about the issue of sewage pollution in Bedford Borough.
Swimmers, paddlers, surfers, canoers, kayakers, paddle-boarders, windsurfers and anyone who cares about the health of the local area will take to the water or stand along The Embankment as part of Surfers Against Sewage (SAS) events happening simultaneously across the UK.
Alongside SAS, local campaigners are calling for an end to sewage discharges into UK bathing waters and a 90% reduction in sewage discharges by 2030.
Just last month, Anglia Water was fined £2.65 million after pleading guilty to “a catalogue of failures by the company to manage and monitor effluent” at one of their water recycling centres.
This then allowed untreated sewage to overflow into the North Sea.
In a statement about the coordinated protests, SAS said: “Everyone needs to know this: water companies are regularly pumping untreated sewage into our rivers and seas, racking up enormous fines and making huge financial losses, but still paying out millions of pounds to their shareholders.
“Don’t let the water company fat cats continue to stuff their pockets with our cash at the cost of the environment. Stand with us and demand an end to profiting from pollution.”
As well as the public protest, SAS is asking people to sign their ‘Dirty Money’ petition, which demands an end to water companies profiting while they’re polluting.
The protest will take place between 1pm and 3pm on Saturday, 20 May. You can find out more about the Central chapter of Surfers Against Sewage and the protest here.
