The project looks at the rise in sewage leaks into open water sources in the UK. Whilst discharging sewage into the sea is not new, it has recently caught significant media attention from mainstream news outlets.
Water companies seemingly get away with these leaks, often without even a slap on the wrist. Blaming old infrastructure that is too costly to replace, yet £57 billion has been paid out in dividends over the past 30 years, almost half the amount spent on maintenance. Published by the Department of Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (DEFRA) in 2022, the Storm Overflows Discharge Reduction Plan is the Government's response to a rise in sewage leaks. The 60-page plan is at the centre of a legal challenge from a surfer, an oysterman, and the Good Law Project, who claim it breaches the Public Trust Doctrine, ancient common law rights concerning shared waters. The way public interest is personified by these three concerned citizens - or associations - follows in the footsteps of the 1299 court case mounted in the name of Juliana, a washerwoman who bravely accused the Mayor of Winchester of cutting off her water source (of income). King Edward I, siding with Juliana and forming legal precedent, decreed that "water has always been common" and that "it was unlawful to contaminate it with several pollutants, including animal blood and human excrement." To reflect on this tradition of legal interventions, the original 2022 report has been redacted by overwriting the phrase "water has always been common". Giving the historical law power over the new, specific passages have been retained to highlight the only concern of the report: economic interests.