James Wallace is Chief Executive of vocal campaign group River Action. CIWEM policy director Alastair Chisholm sat down to chat to him.
I start by asking James about River Action. It’s a young organisation but fair to say one that’s made a real splash in its short life so how did that come about?
It was set up by the Chair, Charles Watson in 2021. Charles has a PR background and understands how industry and its supply chains work. As a keen Angler he became horrified by the intensive poultry farming along the River Wye and the impact it was having.
Charles decided to harness his PR skills to empower and embolden local groups including Friends of the Upper Wye, Friends of the Lower Wye, The Wye and Usk Foundation, the local Wildlife Trust and more. They formed an advisory board and pulled in the likes of Ben Goldsmith, Feargal Sharkey, policy gurus Ruth Chambers and Ruth Davis, advocacy comms outfit Seahorse Environmental and James himself (then Chief Executive at the Beaver Trust).
In June of that year the group decided to set up a Charity to formalise its activity, with Seahorse leading initial campaigns. At the end of 2022 Wallace left the Beaver Trust and joined River Action. Since then the focus has been fundraising heavily to build up the team and begin their mission to “recue Britain’s rivers”.
“I’m sure water company CEOs would love to be able to push a button and fix it but we just don’t have enough people to enable that to happen.”
Charter for rivers
I ask what that mission means in practice. “We’re in nothing less than a freshwater emergency. Not just facing one, but in one” says Wallace.
“Rivers are suffering from industrial pollution from the water industry and from farming. There’s also road runoff and a raft of chemicals we don’t really know the impacts of. Then added to the pollution there’s over-abstraction.
“There’s all the creaky Victorian infrastructure that needs to be upgraded and farming incentives which are driving pollution and crop production a lot of which we in the UK don’t eat. Nothing is effectively incentivising anyone concerned to behave sustainably; it pays to pollute against a background of regulators who’ve had their resources cut.
”Rescue means tackling these issues head on says Wallace. Quite simply, fighting for enough funding for agencies so they can advise properly and enforce the law. So that farmers are incentivised to manage slurry and have good buffer strips. So that planning (of things like intensive chicken farms) is done in a joined-up way, and so that people pay a fair price for food and water and farmers get enough of that.
“We landed on the need for three things: Support for communities to collect evidence on pollution; to mobilise communications effectively so people hear about the situation, and finally to advocate for policy change (or just effectively implementing what’s there already), changing practice into best practice.
”This is built out in the Charter for Rivers – a ten-point-plan for improvement launched in the spring. It focuses on the big water pressures but also on underpinning approaches like planning, controlling pollutants at source, and monitoring, inspecting and enforcing to a level which dissuades malpractice.
With over 70 organisations signed up, the aim is simple: To collectively promote common aims to manifesto teams as well as local parliamentary candidates so they have rivers at the heart of their own positions and voters are aware of the challenges relating to water quality, quantity and habitats.
“We will use the law and quite aggressive media communications but we’re really enjoying engaging with the heads of water companies, agricultural organisations and the regulators and talking.”
End sewage pollution?
I somewhat sheepishly acknowledge that there could have been another signatory. CIWEM was asked to sign up but felt unable to because of the stark language the Charter uses especially around “ending sewage pollution” and doing so by 2030.
That’s just one water industry asset management round I say. From an engineering perspective it’s just not possible however much any of us might want it. Wallace freely acknowledges the 2030 main strand is highly ambitious, but concedes that in absolute terms he doesn’t expect to achieve all of them.
Instead its about the political will and commitment, the investment in water infrastructure and agriculture, the funding for regulatory agencies, the right policy frameworks all being in place by then so people can have genuine confidence things will improve dramatically.
Wallace acknowledges the harsh realities of delivering such extensive upgrades and improvements: “I’m sure water company CEOs would love to be able to push a button and fix it but we just don’t have enough people to enable that to happen. Or indeed to cope with the climate breakdown generally. We haven’t invested enough in those skills and capacity.”
Consumers also have a role to play, he says. But getting them on board at the moment is a really hard sell. He points to water consumption at an average level of 171 litres per person per day in the Chilterns – an area of precious chalk streams.
“Somehow customers need to be convinced to reduce their water use and potentially pay more for it. It’s a hard sell because of what water companies did in the past in terms of profiteering. To counter that the industry needs to find more investment itself or risk a change to its ownership model.”
How fast can it turn things around? Wallace thinks no-one really knows at this stage.
When it comes to farming though, he’s much more bullish and thinks it’s actually pretty simple – unlike the complex engineering retrofit needed in our towns and cities. “Make it financially worthwhile for smaller farmers to farm sustainably and regulate big agriculture like an industry.”
Wallace points to WWF stats claiming 85 percent of agricultural land is used for grazing and producing animal feed whilst 32 percent of calories derive from meat. US mega food company Cargill is polluting the Wye with manure from 20 million factory-farmed hens whilst deforesting the Amazon to grow soya to feed them. “It’s such an extractive industry” he says.
“We’re not short of land to grow food in the UK, that’s a lie pedalled by the National Farmers Union and big agri-business. There’s a lot we can do before 2030”.
Political commitment and new audiences
The latest initiative is the provocatively-titled “This is Poo” (or “Sh*t” on certain media platforms) Wallace and Grommit-style animated series. It’s an attempt to break out of the ‘Guardianista eco-echo chamber” and reach new audiences though humour and recognisable voices (Stephen Fry).
Wallace seems incensed by the recent political backslide away from environmental and climate commitments and the Opposition leader’s alleged claim to “hate tree huggers”. He feels to turn that ebbing tide it’s essential to reach everyone of every background and help them realise that we all need clean water.
From the outset River Action were determined to be entirely independently funded. Unlike a lot of NGOs who work closely with, and receive funding from companies and government, they want the freedom to take legal action and be as outspoken as they feel they need to be to reach everyone and challenge polluters or decision-makers.
But ultimately he says, everyone involved wants to engage positively around solutions and support good practice. “Moving beyond the finger pointing, River Action are bringing people together. We will use the law and quite aggressive media communications but we’re really enjoying engaging with the heads of water companies, agricultural organisations and the regulators and talking.”
And he recognises the passion of people working in the water sector. “They’re heroes in their own right who have nothing to do with selfish or inept people who ran organisations badly in the past or who defunded regulators. They care about their jobs, neighbours, families and they want to do good whether that’s within the Environment Agency or with their sleeves rolled up inside water companies.”