Dispatches investigates the UK’s ‘untreated sewage scandal’

The programme comes amid outrage at the filth being legally – thanks to MPs support – dumped in UK waterways.

For years, water companies have been dumping untreated sewage into Britain’s rivers and seas.

Searching for a safe place to swim, presenter Jimmy Doherty investigates why these privatised companies have been allowed to get away with it for so long, and asks who is really to blame for the state of our filthy waters?

Jimmy finds companies breaking the law and a sewerage system that’s too small to cope.

An insider reveals why the Environment Agency regulator is failing to hold these once publicly-owned water companies to account. And he discovers thousands of sewage spills at some of Britain’s best beaches.

Dispatches: Britain’s Water Scandal, Channel 4, tonight (August 29th) 7.30 pm