31 May 2025
You can’t ignore the irony in a new advert from Affinity Water encouraging people to ‘Find a Stream Experience’ in their local area.
Because one of the locations featured is the River Ver, the same waterway which recently featured on national television to highlight how sewage had been pumped into it by Thames Water for thousands of hours since last year.
Local resident John Telford has contacted Affinity to highlight the failings of their neighbouring water company.
He said: “Like many viewers I’m sure, I recently watched a BBC News report from Markyate showing our precious chalk stream, the River Ver, full of appalling pollution from the local treatment plant.
“Apparently they have been pumping sewage into the river daily for years, when this should only be allowed in exceptional rainfall periods.
“Hertfordshire hosts 10 per cent of the world’s precious chalk streams, which should run with clear, sparkling aquifer water.
“The news bulletin showed filthy, smelly, murky water, with no view of the gravel base, and no wildlife-bearing oxygen. I have a book showing children in bygone years swimming in the Ver, and when volunteering with the Wildlife Trust we would occasionally work in the chalk streams, but I wouldn’t go near them now!
“So, imagine my utter amazement on receiving a circular from our water company Affinity encouraging us to ‘Find a Stream Experience’. This article highlights various walks in
Hertfordshire around and along rivers, including the River Ver. I’m sure the walks are very nice and good exercise, but it seems hypocritical that a water company is promoting riverside walks at the same time as raw sewage is being pumped into them.
“I understand water companies’ executive bonuses have been put on hold at present, and note that I have just started paying £109 a year extra in water rates to fund infrastructure improvements that should have been built years ago, rather than paying shareholder dividends, for a service to customers that is ruining the environment.
“I have no truck with our water supplies, except that there
is no competition, but do feel that Ofwat is unfit for purpose, and that water and sewage should be nationalised as the public has lost all confidence in them.
“By all means take a stroll along a local river, but with a clothes peg on your nose!”
Harpenden MP Victoria Collins, who has been championing the fight to encourage water companies to clean up their act, added: “For too long, wastewater companies have been dumping sewage into our rivers, devastating the delicate ecosystems these waterways support. While I welcome Affinity Water’s Save Our Stream initiative, I must question the sincerity of promoting their Stream Experience when they include rivers like the Ver in their list of places to enjoy nature by your local chalk stream.
“It is frankly worrying to encourage people to visit and appreciate a waterway that has endured over 4,000 hours of non-stop sewage from Thames Water dumped into its waters. Maybe Affinity should instead be pushing Thames Water to clean up their act, and our streams.
“Fellow Liberal Democrats and I are calling for genuine improvement of our waterways. Our communities deserve clean waterways, not marketing initiatives that gloss over environmental damage.”
