You really want to help?

There is a really strong theme running through the many hundreds of emails that have come in to WASP after Dirty Business aired on Channel 4.

Righteous anger and determination to do something now.

Water companies in England and Wales. Also interested in hearing from Scottish Water customers. Image from Money Saving Girl

We must not waste this energy, and as the threat of government's insidious 'New Vision for Water' draws closer, we need well-informed and motivated groups and individuals in every constituency to deliver the truth to power.

A voice in every constituency? A formidable force.

We need to give MPs the facts and to:

a) Know that people in the constituency care about the sewage scandal.

b) Bust the myths that lobbyists and water bosses have drummed into MPs for so long, and give them confidence in the real facts, backed up with hard evidence.

c) Show them we don't need new laws that will officially capture regulators and make them responsible for keeping shareholders happy. We need an end to the broken and corrupted system that is privatised water.

When it comes to critical votes, we want to make sure MPs can recognise solutions that serve the public, country and of course the environment, not the profiteers.

Do you want to help?

You may already have a group, not necessarily water focused, or you may be thinking of starting one. Or you may want work alone. We like the many voices on the same song approach.

We don't want to speak for you; we want to help you speak for yourselves and between us to turn the volume up loud and clear.

We are already referring groups to the Sewage Campaign Network (SCN) coalition of which we are part, and that will definitely remain a hub, but we also want to help people feel confident about going there and knowing what to do to be effective in their area. There may already be a group you want to join so go on the SCN website and scroll down to the interactive map - THE NETWORK and see who is already in your area. But do that after you have read this blog.

We don't have the admin to deal with every message at this hyper busy time but we can set up resources to help you develop on a zero budget.

Of course, some of you will be well past the setting up phase and you may be able to help us and others. We will soon add new material to this website that may be useful to everyone, including, and not necessarily in this order;

1. Desk based investigations.

2. Evidence gathering in the field.

3. Working with the media.

4. Engaging councillors, MPs, and Ministers.

5. Planning Law.

We have a separate email for this section and we will soon hold a webinar about this work. We are a small team so that email traffic may sometimes be one-way, but we will be reading and listening, if not always replying individually. Tell us what you want.

action@windrushwasp.org will link you to the WASP nest.

These groups don't have to be long-lasting. They can exist for the time they are needed - possibly only a few months, or they may find that they should last longer or want to last longer. They can focus on the environment, the financial scam or the public health risks that led to the tragic events seen in Dirty Business. Or all of them.

Ultimately, our aim is to make ourselves redundant - by winning the fight.

First steps - new groups and individuals

1. Identify your objective.

2. Identify potential members and their abilities - play to your current strengths.

3. Give yourself a name not already in use. A geographical or river reference would be good.

4. Get at least one social media account to suit your style and situation.

5. email WASP and tell us you are live.

   
   

Rules of engagement

You can of course do what you like within the law but to work with WASP, we ask you to stick to these values.

1. Accuracy and truthfulness in your statements and publications.

2. Stay within the law - we leave the criminality and dishonesty to our opponents.

3. Show respect to water company and regulatory staff (everyone) who are doing a difficult job, but of course, no one is going to expect you to ignore evidence of wrongdoing. We are all in this together and that is one of our major advantages. When the solutions to the scandal come, the water company staff, and the regulators, will be the people who deliver them.

4. Tough challenges with hard evidence are fine, personal attacks and insults are not.

5. Diversity? Discrimination is a red card.

Objectives.

Our primary aim in this phase will be to prevent new legislation from making water company regulation and pollution worse, and to seek an end to privatisation in favour of public-owned companies run as businesses, not for profit and funded by billpayers - which is where the funding comes from anyway. Take away the incentive to cheat and game the system and to prey on captive billpayers while treating our waters as a dumping ground.

You may want to know more about these ideas before you join in and we will cover this in the webinar or read up on them.

For the detail of setting up more formal small group structure, this looks like a good link from the Wildlife Trusts. It depends on how much or how little admin you want.

https://www.wildlifetrusts.org/community-hub/guides/setting-basic-community-group

Prefer to work alone?

That's great, too and determined people can do remarkable things.

Here are two excellent examples using different approaches from opposite ends of the campaigning spectrum.

The relentless and redoubtable quiet achiever Bob Latimer in the Northeast

https://www.bbc.com/news/science-environment-66778409

and the 'Wild Woman of the Wye', Angela Jones

https://www.angelajonesswimwild.co.uk/post/angela-jones-and-the-fight-for-the-river-wye-a-story-of-one-british-river-the-river-wye

Whatever you decide - good luck.

What about Scotland and Northern Ireland? Both still in public ownership but with some legacy PFI in Scotland and neither without their problems. We are interested in learning about the whole picture.