Marching for clean water, London, 3 November 2024. Photo Workers.
On 3 November, over 15,000 protesters gathered in central London for the National March for Clean Water. There were simultaneous demonstrations in Glasgow and Belfast. Marchers were responding to the rising tide of sewage spills in our waterways. According to the Environment Agency, in England alone there were 3.6 million hours of spills in 2023 – more than double the total for 2022.
Demonstrators knew that this was an underestimate, because many were undertaking their own water monitoring using their own funds and volunteer time. The importance of not relying on water companies, government and regulators to take care of our natural resources was a consistent theme.
The GMB union speaker at the rally in Parliament Square explained the many ways that the water companies had diverted the funding for our water system into private profit. The underlying message of so many contributions at the rally was that capitalism cannot provide clean water.