Dirty Business: Campaigners behind Channel 4 drama on water pollution

Channel 4's three-part Dirty Business draws on the decade-long investigation by Ash Smith and Peter Hammond into sewage discharges on the River Windrush, and it follows recent government pledges and regulatory action aimed at reducing sewage spills.

Ash Smith and Peter Hammond have spent about a decade investigating pollution on the River Windrush and other English waterways. Their work helped inspire Channel 4's new three-part drama Dirty Business, which aired this week. The series presents accounts from whistleblowers and people who say their lives were affected after contact with sewage-contaminated water. Ash has said some of those stories are tragic and upsetting. Key details: - Ash Smith and Peter Hammond began investigating the Windrush in 2016 and co-founded Windrush Against Sewage Pollution. - Channel 4's three-part series Dirty Business is partly based on their decade-long investigation and portrays people who report harm from sewage-contaminated water. - The government pledged last year to halve the number of sewage discharge events by water companies, and Thames Water received a record £122.7m fine for breaches related to sewage spills. - Sewage discharges are legally permitted during heavy rainfall because combined sewer overflows are used to prevent sewer network backups and flooding. Summary: The series brings renewed public attention to long-running concerns about sewage discharges and the campaigners who documented them, in the context of recent fines and a government pledge to reduce spills. Formal next steps and specific procedural actions are undetermined at this time.