A legal right to clean rivers, enforceable by citizens

In 2023, water companies in England discharged sewage into rivers and seas for over 3.6 million hours. The Environment Agency, which is supposed to prevent this, has had its budget cut by 60% since 2010 and now conducts fewer inspections than at any point since it was created.

When the regulator cannot or will not act, citizens must be able to. Give individuals and community groups the legal standing to bring enforcement action against polluters directly, without needing to go through the Environment Agency. This exists in the United States through the Clean Water Act and it works. Citizens who live near rivers have more motivation to protect them than a regulator operating from an office in Bristol.

Pair this with mandatory real-time sewage discharge monitoring, published publicly, so that every river user knows exactly what is going into their water and who is responsible. Transparency changes behaviour faster than regulation.