Tainted Water
Live Project
2023-24 MA cohort
Tainted Water
It’s everyone’s problem
In early August 2023, news broke of a class action lawsuit leveled against six water companies operating in the UK. The case accuses these companies of underreporting the extent to which they are spilling raw sewage into waterways across England and Wales, pretending to meet environmental targets, and thus overcharging their customers.
The bill presents a very simple relationship to water users: you’re a customer paying for a service. It is a mystifying document that employs polished infographics and friendly slogans to obscure a network of interrelated events and entities far more complex than a contractual relationship between two parties: riverflies, algal blooms, international shareholders, sewage discharge, defective technology, neoliberal politics, leaky pipes. Thames Water would like us to believe that they’re as transparent as our water. Both, however, are full of shit.
Our alternative bill accounts for the multiple contingencies behind a seemingly uncomplicated contract.
What are the costs associated with dumping raw sewage into our rivers? Who profits and who pays?
It’s everyone’s problem
In early August 2023, news broke of a class action lawsuit leveled against six water companies operating in the UK. The case accuses these companies of underreporting the extent to which they are spilling raw sewage into waterways across England and Wales, pretending to meet environmental targets, and thus overcharging their customers.
The bill presents a very simple relationship to water users: you’re a customer paying for a service. It is a mystifying document that employs polished infographics and friendly slogans to obscure a network of interrelated events and entities far more complex than a contractual relationship between two parties: riverflies, algal blooms, international shareholders, sewage discharge, defective technology, neoliberal politics, leaky pipes. Thames Water would like us to believe that they’re as transparent as our water. Both, however, are full of shit.
Our alternative bill accounts for the multiple contingencies behind a seemingly uncomplicated contract.
What are the costs associated with dumping raw sewage into our rivers? Who profits and who pays?