WORLD Water Day is held across the globe each year on March 22 to highlight the importance of freshwater and advocate for sustainable water management.
And this year, Safina Akhtar-Watters, a member of the campaign group CARP (Communities Against River Pollution) has written for the Standard about the demonstration held in Bewdley to mark the occasion and raise awareness of the plight facing the River Severn.
RESIDENTS in Bewdley and neighbouring Wyre Forest towns marked World Water Day with a striking riverside demonstration organised by CARP (Communities Against River Pollution), demanding an urgent end to sewage pollution in the River Severn.
As part of their protest, campaigners spent last Sunday afternoon speaking to residents and visitors and urging them to sign a growing petition to support the legal rights for the River Severn.
This petition, found on Change.org advocates for local decision-makers and stakeholders to recognise the river as a living entity in its own right deserving of stronger protections in policy.
This campaign drew significant public attention on the strength of a creative street theatre style ‘protest’ featuring performers dressed as ‘faceless financiers’, which are symbolic characters representing major water industries, regulatory bodies, and stakeholders.
Picture by Safina Akhtar-Watters. s
With blank masks and carrying bundles of cash, the characters wandered through the streets of Bewdley to represent what campaigners describe as ‘pollution for profit’, where economic interest continues to be the key driving factor in water regulation, while UK rivers suffer repeated sewage and agricultural discharges.
Dee Edwards, from CARP, said: “The fundamental problem is the water industry needs to be nationalised to stop the great sewage scandal and the profiteering of the water industry at the expense of human and environmental health.”
The day was punctuated by the group’s volunteers speaking to hundreds of local residents, many who expressed a clear frustration about river health, sewage discharges and a lack of reporting and accountability from water companies and regulators.
The petition saw a significant boost in support as residents stopped their daily pursuits to learn more about the Rights for Rivers Charter and give their own stories about their personal ever-evolving connection to the river.
A local fisherman added: “I used to fish in the River Severn for a number of years, grew up and moved away to Stourport. In recent times, I came back to fishing and it’s amazing how now the rivers are so dead.
“It’s absolutely awful there’s no point to fishing the rivers really.”
The group has said the Rights of Nature approach, already being explored by several UK river groups, could help facilitate a shift towards long-term widespread ecological responsibility.
This would see communities call for stronger protections, transparency, an end to sewage discharges and changes to agricultural practices.
People can visit: change.org/p/support-rights-for-the-river-severn-wyre-forest/ to view the petition and to add their name to it.
The document contained 391 signatures online and paper when this article was printed.
Email CARP at [email protected] for more information.
