A water company discharges sewage into a river with impunity and the government fails to stop them. The story may sound familiar, but this one is different: there\u2019s a satisfying comeuppance all round.<\/p>\n
The ongoing saga of sewage being pumped into the Thames has inspired a new YA (young adult) novel, Floaters<\/a> \u2013 and when its limited first edition is published later this month, 50% of all profits will go to the conservation and campaign charity Surfers Against Sewage<\/a> (SAS).<\/p>\n Described as a \u201ccoming-of-age revenge caper\u201d, Floaters follows a group of teenagers who find their favourite swimming spot has been compromised by oozing sewage, and is based on the author\u2019s own experiences.<\/p>\n Craig Taylor, writing as C M Taylor, and his two daughters regularly canoe along the Thames. They used to swim, too, in the stretch near their Oxfordshire home, but they stopped when they discovered how frequently sewage was being dumped into the water. \u201cThere\u2019s a very active environmental network doing citizen science in our area and that\u2019s really helped educate us about the declining water quality,\u201d said Taylor.<\/p>\n Half of the profits made by the book will be donated to Surfers Against Sewage, who campaign for cleaner waterways across the UK. Photograph: Charlotte Coney\/Getty Images<\/p>\n The book\u2019s initial run of 215 copies will raise funds for SAS in a year the campaign group calls a \u201conce-in-a-generation\u201d opportunity to positively influence the UK\u2019s water quality.<\/p>\n The first publication is limited to 215 copies, one for each mile of the River Thames. Photograph: Craig Taylor<\/p>\n \u201cIt just seemed a cute conceit to restrict the number of copies to 215, one for each mile of the river,\u201d said Taylor. \u201cAlthough there are ongoing fights about where the source of the Thames is, so I\u2019m sure some purists will argue that it\u2019s actually 218 miles long.\u201d<\/p>\n In July the water reform bill<\/a> will be introduced in parliament, and other government consultations on bathing water regulations, environmental offence sanctions and river basin management plans are taking place.<\/p>\n Taylor\u2019s book reflects on how the polluting actions of UK water companies \u2013 and the executive bonuses<\/a> that continue in spite of them \u2013 are increasingly seeping into popular culture.<\/p>\n Two years ago, the Channel 4 documentary Joe Lycett vs Sewage saw the comedian take on the issue, and from 23 February, the broadcaster will air Dirty Business<\/a>, a new three-part TV drama telling the true-life story<\/a> of pollution and cover-up by England\u2019s water companies.<\/p>\n Just as ITV\u2019s Bafta-winning Mr Bates vs the Post Office revived public interest in the Post Office scandal in 2024 and led a breakthrough moment in the continued fight for justice, this year clean water campaigners will be hoping for a similar turn in the tide.<\/p>\n \u201cI\u2019ve been thinking about sewage for a long time and I\u2019ve been wanting to write something set on a river,\u201d said Taylor. \u201cAnd I love capers \u2013 there are lots of stories that are heists, but there are not enough capers.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"A water company discharges sewage into a river with impunity and the government fails to stop them. The…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":302357,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[22],"tags":[273,111,139,69,147],"class_list":["post-302356","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-environment","tag-environment","tag-new-zealand","tag-newzealand","tag-nz","tag-science"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/302356","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=302356"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/302356\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/302357"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=302356"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=302356"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=302356"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}