We must stop seeing the UK's rivers and seas as waste pipes

This question reminds me of Robert Macfarlane’s thought-provoking new book Is a River Alive? It challenges us to reframe our relationship with water — not simply as something to be used or managed, but as something living, something with rights. As an activist and ultra-distance swimmer, I refuse to let failing water monopolies dictate where or how I swim.

I swim six times a week, often for hours at a time, training for some of the most extreme endurance swims in the world. Over time, I’ve become an unwilling expert in water quality. I know which places are safe, and which are not. Sadly, it’s not surprising that nearly half of Britons now avoid swimming in the sea. Last year alone, sewage spills increased by 60%. The images of human waste gushing into our rivers and seas are burned into the memory of every would-be swimmer, surfer, or paddler.

At Friends of the Thames, we believe that change must be systemic and strategic — a multi-pronged approach using every tool at our disposal: advocacy, education, data, legal action, and public pressure. But we also believe we must go deeper. It’s time to recognise the rights of nature — the idea that rivers, seas, and ecosystems are not just resources, but entities with a right to exist, flourish, and evolve.

As long as our water is controlled by private monopolies — run for profit, laden with debt, and propped up by dividends and bloated executive salaries — we will never see the scale of change needed to protect our ecosystems, or allow people to swim without fear of illness. To understand the stakes: freshwater species are disappearing at a rate five times faster than land-based biodiversity. That’s an ecological emergency.

We need a radical shift. First, water companies must be brought into public ownership — not government-run, but community-owned, not-for-profit entities governed by elected representatives and informed by experts in ecology, hydrology, and environmental justice. Next, we must re-establish people’s connection to water. In the UK, no one lives more than two miles from a body of water — yet in London, 14% of children who live within a mile of the Thames have never seen her. How can we protect what we don’t know, or care about what we’ve never met?

This is where the rights of nature can guide us: by fostering reverence, connection, and responsibility, not just utility. We must stop seeing rivers and seas as waste pipes and start recognising them as living entities — with a right to flow clean, wild, and free. That shift in mindset could transform everything.

So what can you do? Support charities and campaigners who are fighting for nature. Contact your MP about concerns in your local area. Educate yourself. Read the books. Join the movement. Get involved — and above all, start caring.

Because when we care, we protect. And when we protect, we begin to restore.

If you’d like to support Friends of the Thames, or my own attempt to complete the triple crown of Marathon Swimming, please click here. Or get in touch friendsofthethames@gmail.com

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Laura Reineke is the Chief Executive Officer of Friends of the Thames, a charity dedicated to protecting, restoring, and celebrating the River Thames.

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