Surfing on Sewage

The 'Top of the Poops' is a ranking of the hours spent discharging raw sewage (largely by privatised Water Companies), into the rivers and seas of UK minister's constituencies. It's, of course, an overtly political excercise. What's really important, however, is the total of circa 7,500 day's worth of raw sewage dumping in this small 'snapshot' (https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2023/apr/13/more-than-7500-days-worth-of-raw-sewage-dumped-in-ministers-constituencies). The privatised Water Companies are 'allowed' to discharge raw sewage, when their systems are 'overcome' by heavy rain. The trouble is that a) th Water Companies self-regulate and b) discharge saves them money (that can be used to reward shareholders and CEOs). For decades, there has been no incentive to upgrade the UK's largely 'Victorian' systems of dealing with sewage. In that time, the population has dramatically increased. Climate changealso means that 'extreme weather events' are much more probable. Upgrading, may well be an expensive business. UK plc, however, really has no option, unless its folk are all happy to share their leisure environments with raw sewage!