A Washing Away of Any Confidence in the Protection of English Rivers

Before Christmas 2021, there was considerable fury in the UK Parliament and the media about the state of English rivers. The Environmental Agency is charged with ensuring water quality in rivers. People were incensed about the activities of some privatised Water Companies discharging raw sewage into rivers. This is only legal, in the event of extreme flooding but companies seemed to be doing it simply to boost their profits (by reducing their costs). So what it the Environmental Agency do about this state of affairs? (https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2022/jan/29/it-is-desperate-how-environment-agency-staff-were-silenced-as-pollution-worsened). The Chief Executive of the Agency sent an email to all its staff, threatening them with disciplinary action or dismissal. The inspectors having direct knowledge about what was happening to rivers, were told they must not "openly criticise or discredit the organisation in the media or on social media". They were also warned they must not "disclose any confidential information in connection with the Environmental Agency to anyone who is not authorised to receive it". These are standard responses of well-paid heads of agencies, trying to protect their positions. It has been evident for decades that funding and staffing of the Environmental Agency is wholly inadequate for it to effectively fullfil its role. People concerned about their environments are surely entitled to know why the water quality in English rivers is so dire? They might also be interested to know why there are so few prosecutions for pollution events!