Weekend Press: Lib Dems use dirty water scandal to target seats in Blue Wall

In our latest round-up of sector coverage in the national media, the Liberal Democrats send out more than 2 million leaflets highlighting sewage dumping as they aim to make inroads against the Conservatives in the south of England. Elsewhere, Octopus CEO Greg Jackson and SSE chief Phillips-Davies received King Birthday Honours, outdoor clothing companies are linked to PFAS scandal and Extinction Rebellion stage Thames Water protest.

Lib Dems use dirty water scandal to target seats in Blue Wall

The Liberal Democrats are flooding Blue Wall seats with leaflets highlighting sewage dumping as they aim to make inroads against the Conservatives in the south of England.

More than two million leaflets will begin landing on door mats across dozens of constituencies in the West Country and southern England seats from Monday, drawing attention to the pollution of rivers and waterways.

The Lib Dems have put water quality front and centre of their manifesto, with pledges to turn water companies into public benefit companies, ban bonuses for water bosses until discharges and leaks end, and replace Ofwat with a “tough new regulator with new powers to prevent sewage dumps”.

Sir Ed Davey’s party is also proposing a “sewage tax” on water company profits, and to set legally binding targets to prevent dumping into bathing waters and highly sensitive nature sites by 2030.

The A4 leaflets claim “the Conservative record on sewage stinks” and urge voters to “send the Conservatives and water bosses a message – and end raw sewage dumps”.

“Enough is enough, use your vote to beat the Conservatives,” they say.

According to polling by Savanta for the Lib Dems, 38 per cent of voters say they would be less likely to vote for their local MP if they failed to support a new law to ban sewage dumping, rising to 43 per cent for those who voted Tory in 2019.

The Lib Dems said they had already featured sewage as an issue on more than 10 million leaflets delivered in the election so far.

A party source said: “We’re finding this one of the biggest issues on the doorstep among lifelong Conservatives – it’s clear sewage will be on the ballot paper at this election.

“Record numbers of people are saying they can’t vote for a Conservative who will let the polluting water companies off the hook.

“Hard-working professionals have worked all their lives to buy their dream home, only to find their local river is being ruined by sewage.”

The Lib Dems are expected to make gains at the election, with some polls suggesting they could jump from 15 MPs to more than 40.

A Conservative Party spokesman said: “The Conservative Party is the only party with a bold plan to tackle water quality.

“We have set clear targets on sewage reduction, introduced our Plan for Water and unlimited fines for water companies to further hold them to account, and rolled out monitoring to 100 per cent of sewage works.

“Meanwhile, the Liberal Democrats have led a campaign of misinformation and lies rather than supporting the action that they claim to be so desperate to see.”

The Telegraph

Octopus and SSE chiefs named in King’s Birthday Honours

The chief executives of energy giants Octopus and SSE are among the hundreds of people named in this year’s King’s Birthday Honours.

Greg Jackson of Octopus Energy and Alistair Phillips-Davies of SSE have been made Commanders of the Order of the British Empire (CBE) for services to the energy industry.

Mr Jackson, 53, co-founded Octopus Energy in 2016, and has since grown the company to 7.7 million customers across 18 countries, plus £7 billion of renewable energy assets.

Octopus’ proprietary technology platform, Kraken, is used to run more than 54 million customer accounts worldwide.

It aims to make the energy supply chain more efficient while also transitioning millions of people to clean energy. All of the electricity that Octopus supplies to homes is from renewable sources.

Mr Jackson, who has spoken about having his energy supply cut off while growing up, is considered an industry pioneer for bringing renewable energy to the mass consumer market.

Mr Phillips-Davies has been at the helm of SSE for a decade. In that time he has committed the company to more than £40 billion of investment over the next 10 years towards the transition to net zero.

He oversaw the sale of SSE’s retail energy supply business to Ovo Energy in 2019, and has repositioned the Perth-based firm as one of the most significant electricity infrastructure players.

SSE is developing the world’s largest offshore wind farm at Dogger Bank, and says it is building more offshore wind than any other company in the world.

Mr Phillips-Davies said: “This is a very pleasant surprise, but it really reflects the great team we have here at SSE and the important work they are doing to speed up the clean energy transition that will benefit everyone.”

The honours system recognises and rewards people for their achievements, contributions and service to society.

A CBE is one step below a knighthood, but above an Officer of the Order of the British Empire (OBE).

The Independent

Extinction Rebellion activists stage Thames Water toilet protest

Environmental protesters sat on toilets on a busy Thames footbridge to highlight the issue of sewage being released into waterways.

Extinction Rebellion activists took their campaign, and toilets, to Christchurch Bridge in Reading on Saturday.

The group said it wanted to “draw further attention to the continuing release of sewage into the River Thames by Thames Water”.

Thames Water, which has its headquarters nearby, said the sewage system “was historically designed to work in this way”.

The protest is part of the Extinction Rebellion’s Don’t Pay for Dirty Water campaign.

Molly, one of the activists, said: “We’re here to draw attention to the fact that water companies are not making our waters safe.

“Our rivers are in a state of decline and this has got to stop.”

A Thames Water statement said: “While all discharges are unacceptable, the sewage system was historically designed to work in this way, to prevent sewage backing up into people’s homes.

“We have published plans to upgrade 250 of our sites across the region.

“More investment is needed across the entire sector, as infrastructure ages and demand on it increases.”

BBC

Outdoor clothing brands still using ‘forever chemicals’ despite health risk

Hikers may be inadvertently damaging the environment and risking their own health by wearing clothes made waterproof with “forever chemicals”, according to research by Ethical Consumer.

The campaigning magazine examined 27 companies that make outdoor clothing such as fleeces, waterproof jackets, walking boots and rucksacks, and found 82% were still using per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances, or PFAS.

Some chemicals classed as PFAS have been linked to health problems including high cholesterol, fertility, immune system disorders and some cancers. They have been used in consumer products since the 1950s and can take hundreds of years to degrade, contaminating the soil and water supply.

The government said in February that it was considering restricting the use of PFAS in consumer products under the UK’s REACH chemical regulations on the basis that they may be hazardous. Yet there are alternatives. Páramo and Finisterre use no PFAS in their products, while Fjällräven, Alpkit, Lowe Alpine and Patagonia are mostly PFAS free. They and more than a dozen other firms say they will end their PFAS use next year.

But nearly half of the companies assessed by Ethical Consumer had no phase-out date for using PFAS.

Jane Turner, an Ethical Consumer writer and researcher, said: “The irreversible global contamination and extreme toxicity of ‘forever chemicals’ have been undisputed for years, but most outdoor clothing companies are still unnecessarily using them and adding to the PFAS pollution burden. That’s not acceptable, and companies must stop using them now. Consumers should only buy from the responsible companies that have stopped using PFAS.”

There are more than 10,000 PFAS chemicals, according to Fidra, an environmental charity aiming to reduce plastic waste and chemical pollution. Those used in outdoor gear help fabrics repel water, making the liquid slide off.

The process of weathering the material means that hikers wearing outdoor gear shed some of the chemicals into the environment, although most PFAS pollution occurs during the manufacture of the chemicals, when they are applied to fabric, and when a product is thrown away.

Hannah Evans, a project manager at Fidra, said: “PFAS have been found in rivers running through England, on the slopes of Mount Everest and in more than 600 wildlife species, from polar bears to bottlenose dolphins.

“In Europe alone there are at least 23,000 known contamination sites, 2,000 of which are considered PFAS ‘hotspots’ – areas where ­concentrations are deemed hazardous to health. PFAS are contributing to a global chemical pollution crisis.”

Páramo said it did not use PFAS in its products because its fabric, Nikwax, mimicked animal fur by pushing water outwards. But contamination from other companies using the chemicals can be a problem for firms trying to move away from PFAS.

“The biggest issue for us was not removing PFAS substances from our own processes but rather persuading the fabric mills we work with to do the same, guaranteeing PFAS-free fabrics,” a Páramo spokesperson said. “Since 2016, we have been able to guarantee that every single garment we make is PFAS-free.”

The attraction of using PFAS is that it can make fabrics stain resistant as well as water resistant. They are also used to make nonstick frying pans, fridges, jet engines and electrical devices. Choosing to remove a potential selling point can be a difficult decision for some companies to make. Keen, whose walking boots have been PFAS-free since 2018, said that it “just needed something that was effective at repelling water and dirt” rather than “stains, grease and motor oil”.

Fjällräven said that not making its jackets oil repellent was “a low price to pay. It’s easy to add functionality because it’s nice to have, but every function has a side-effect”.

The Royal Society of Chemistry has called on the next government to establish an agency to regulate the use of PFAS and other substances. After Brexit, the UK left the ECHA, the European chemicals agency, and chemical use is governed by the Health and Safety Executive with the support of the Environment Agency. The government under Theresa May promised in 2018 to create a chemicals strategy, yet nothing has been published.

The Guardian  

Piling on the pylons: what net-zero Britain will look like

Rosie Pearson loves where she grew up. “This is proper old English countryside,” said the 51-year-old from Aldham in deep, rural Essex. “It is renowned for its big skies, gently rolling countryside, hedgerows and woodlands and historic buildings. These are the landscapes painted by Constable and Gainsborough.”

But, according to Pearson, this ancient vista is at risk: “They want to put in 180km (112 miles) of pylons across three counties. It’s phenomenally destructive.” By 2030, if proposals are approved, a new electrical highway will be built from Norwich to Tilbury on the north bank of the Thames. National Grid says the plans, which will require 510 new steel pylons, each 50 metres tall, are a “vital part of the transition to net zero”. The wires running through these pylons will transport power from offshore wind farms in the North Sea to the southeast.

For local residents, the bright orange posters they have erected in the fields at the sides of the roads have a simpler message: “180km of pylons. Say No!”

Click here, to continue reading this feature.

The Times

Utility Week’s weekend press round-up is a curation of articles in the national newspapers relating to the energy and water sector. The views expressed are not those of Utility Week or Faversham House.