'Dirty Business' drama airs tonight

(by Karma Loveday)

Channel 4’s three-part drama exploring sewage discharge regulation and practice over the past quarter-century begins this evening. Some have suggested Dirty Business will spark public anger about the wastewater industry akin to that which emerged about the Horizon scandal following ITV’s Mr Bates vs the Post Office drama.

The official trailer suggests the programme will jump between time periods, chiefly highlighting the work of Windrush Against Sewage Pollution’s (WASP) Professor Peter Hammond and Ash Smith — as they identify, monitor, diagnose and publicise the deterioration of water quality in the River Windrush in the Cotswolds — and the tragic case of Heather Preen, an eight year old girl who died after being infected with an aggressive strain of E-coli while on holiday in Devon in 1999.

The programme also looks set to cover the move to operator self-monitoring; wastewater management policy; investment and maintenance levels post privatisation; and corporate behaviour.

Dirty Business is on Channel 4 at 9pm on 23, 24 and 25 February.

• The First-Tier Tribunal of the General Regulatory Chamber has ruled that the Environment Agency (EA) must disclose the declarations of interest forms (financial and business interests) for directors and deputy directors in post between 2019 and 2024, as sought by WASP’s Ashley Smith in January 2024. In a case brought by WASP, the Tribunal found the EA was not entitled to withhold the information under section 40(2) of the Freedom of Information Act. The EA has 35 days from the date of the judgment to disclose or appeal. The original request sought to unearth whether senior Agency staff held shares or financial interests in the companies they regulate, including water companies.