Justice For Water

A UK campaign group legally challenging Southern Water over its record on criminal environmental damage.

Life in less polluted times.

Photo by Windsurf ro/ CC BY SA

My name is Lawrence Richards and I’m part of Extinction Rebellion’s (XR) Dirty Water Campaign. 25 years ago, I was a windsurfer. I loved windsurfing, the sea, the waves and the wind. Couldn’t get enough… Those days are disappearing beneath a tsunami of plastic, sewage and chemicals, but I want to do something about it. Maybe you do too? It’s becoming a global issue.

In 2023, like many others, sick of the cynical profiteering of UK water companies and worsening pollution, I started boycotting Southern Water’s bills, only paying at the last possible point to avoid threatened credit reference agency referrals, debt collection agencies and County Court Judgements. I took my cues from Boycott Water Bills and XR Dirty Water.

Boycotting is a great start, but it didn’t take long to realise that if Southern Water is breaking the law, I could try withholding payments with a specific legal argument to justify it. So, I set about trying to find legal justifications, calling this ‘Justified Payment Withdrawal’.

My first, what I consider to be a valid ‘legal justification’, came following the legal precedent set by the UK Supreme Court in July 2024 in the Manchester Ship Canal Company V United Utilities case. This landmark case allows a law, other than the UK Water Act, to be used against a UK water company. As a water customer, I chose consumer law. I created and outlined my legal case to Southern Water, who have yet to respond. They probably assume they still only need to operate in accordance with the now discredited Water Act.

Some of the consequences of bill boycotting.

Time passed and I became aware of customers with complaints that have been waiting years for a day in court. It seemed likely that Southern Water may never actually have to answer to my legal challenge... So, I started the Justice For Water campaign to pre-emptively sue Southern Water, rather than wait to defend a billing complaint like other bill boycotters.

Justice For Water’s campaign logo

The Justice For Water [JFW] campaign’s objective is to stop Southern Water’s unlicensed sewage dumping, by proving that the company is acting illegally under consumer law.

JFW has two main legal cases:

• A long-term class action, which uses the precedent set in the Manchester Ship Canal Company case, concerning the discharge of foul water into the canal.
• A more focused class action called the ‘Customers Do Pay the Fines’ legal case. This asks: Who actually ends up paying the £90 million fine imposed on SW in 2021 by the Environment Agency? (Spoiler Alert! It’s us, the customer!)

JFW are currently seeking legal and financial expert advice for both potential cases.

What can you do?

• Spread the word. The more people are aware of JFW and it’s aims, the more likely we are to get support from experts, public figures and ultimately the wider public.
• Look out for a series of Digital Actions planned for the coming months.
• If you know anyone who can help with financial or legal expertise, please get in touch via contact details below, especially if you have or know someone who has, a relationship with:
• Professor Sir Dieter Helm, a Professor of Economic Policy at the University of Oxford and Fellow in Economics at New College, Oxford.
• Professor Ewan McGaughey, a Professor of Law who specialises in law, economics and history. His interests include labour rights and our economic constitution.

To gain insights into the global picture of corporate theft and how water is being monetised, we recommend a book called Blue Gold. For more recent opinion, this article by George Monbiot on inequality illustrates one of the root causes of many of our climate issues.

Along with XR and the Dirty Water Campaign, I have discovered a whole alternative universe of water campaign groups with highly motivated and committed members. One of these, Waterways Protection, has been incredibly helpful to JFW.

Email: justiceforwater@gmail.com Join: WhatsApp chat

Visit: Justice for Water web