Future For Water

What would change if the law treated a river not as property or a resource, but as a living entity with rights of its own?

In this episode, Dave and Claire speak with international barrister Monica Feria-Tinta, author of A Barrister for the Earth: Ten Cases of Hope for Our Future. Monica explains how environmental law is beginning to move beyond its traditional, human-centred perspective and recognise that rivers, forests and ecosystems possess an inherent right to exist, flourish and recover from harm.

The conversation explores the influence of Indigenous knowledge, including Monica’s own Quechua heritage and a worldview in which humanity is not separate from nature. She discusses the growing rights of rivers movement in Britain, from the River Ouse and River Wye to emerging work along the River Severn, and considers whether these local initiatives could eventually influence the constitutional development of environmental rights across the UK.

Monica also takes us inside landmark international cases. She explains how Ecuador’s Los Cedros cloud forest was protected from gold mining despite having no human population to represent it, and how Spain’s Mar Menor lagoon is now bringing a case in its own name before the European Court of Human Rights.

Finally, the discussion turns to what communities and citizen scientists can do. Monica argues that water-quality testing, ecological monitoring, historical records and local knowledge can collectively establish the identity and needs of a river—and provide the foundations for legal action, restoration and a more democratic approach to environmental protection.

• Why Monica wrote A Barrister for the Earth
• How international law can help enforce climate obligations
• What it means for a river to possess legal rights
• Why companies can be legal persons while rivers remain legal objects
• What Indigenous knowledge can teach industrialised societies
• The relationship between human health and the natural world
• The River Ouse Charter and Britain’s growing rights of rivers movement
• Why the River Wye represents an important milestone
• How local communities and councils can change environmental governance
• What Spain’s Mar Menor teaches us about legal personhood
• How rights of nature could help hold large corporations accountable
• The successful campaign to protect Ecuador’s Los Cedros cloud forest
• Why scientific and citizen-generated evidence matters
• How communities can turn local knowledge into legal and political action

Britain’s rivers are in crisis. Sewage pollution, failing infrastructure, rising bills and growing public anger have pushed water firmly into the national spotlight.

But how did we get here? And, more importantly, how do we fix it?

In this powerful and frank conversation, Dave Wallace and Claire Zambuni sit down with Ash Smith — one of the UK’s most influential grassroots campaigners fighting for cleaner rivers and accountability in the water industry.

Ash shares the story behind the campaign group Windrush Against Sewage Pollution (WASP), reflects on the impact of Channel 4’s explosive drama-documentary Dirty Business, and explains why he believes the UK water system is fundamentally broken.

The discussion explores everything from privatisation and regulation to political inertia, the economics of debt-laden water companies, and why grassroots citizen action may be the country’s best hope for change.

At the heart of the conversation is a growing national movement asking a difficult question: Should water return to public ownership?

Ash also explains WASP’s rapidly growing petition calling for a public referendum on water ownership — and why he believes the public deserves a direct say in the future of one of the country’s most essential services.

This is an urgent, passionate and surprisingly hopeful conversation about accountability, activism and the power of ordinary people to drive change.

In this episode we discuss:

• The origins of Windrush Against Sewage Pollution and why citizen science matters
• The real impact of Channel 4’s Dirty Business documentary
• Why public anger over sewage pollution continues to grow
• The hidden economics of privatised water companies
• How customer bills are being used to service debt
• Why regulation has repeatedly failed to protect rivers
• Claims of illegal pollution and underinvestment across the industry
• The growing movement for public ownership of water
• Why grassroots river groups are succeeding where institutions struggle
• How people can get involved and make a difference locally

Fixing Britain’s water crisis will require more than outrage. It will take evidence, public pressure and communities willing to organise around something they care deeply about.

As Ash puts it: Play to your strengths, stick to the truth and get involved.

Resources & Links

• Watch Dirty Business on Channel 4
• Learn more about WASP and their work
• Sign the petition calling for a referendum on water ownership (link in show notes)

Listen & Subscribe

If you enjoyed this episode, please follow, rate and share the podcast to help grow the conversation around the future of Britain’s rivers and water system.

#FutureForWater #RiverPollution #WaterCrisis #SewageScandal #DirtyBusiness #RiverHealth #CitizenScience #Environment #WaterIndustry #ThamesWater #CleanWater #PublicHealth #WASP

In this episode, Dave and Claire are joined by freshwater filmmaker Mark (Beneath British Waters) Barrow, a man who has spent over 35 years documenting life beneath the surface of the UK’s rivers.

What begins as a conversation about filmmaking quickly becomes something more urgent: a first-hand account of how dramatically our rivers have changed—and not for the better.

Mark shares how his early experiences in the 1990s, surrounded by hundreds of fish in crystal-clear water, contrast starkly with today’s reality—where he now struggles to find life and increasingly finds himself filming pollution instead.

What You’ll Hear in This Episode:

A hidden world

• Why most people have no idea what actually lives beneath the surface of their local rivers—and why that matters.

From abundance to decline

• Mark’s observations of disappearing fish populations, vanishing mayfly hatches, and the slow degradation of river ecosystems over decades.

Pollution in all its forms

• Not just sewage, but chemical runoff, pharmaceuticals, road pollution, and even pet treatments—creating a toxic cocktail affecting aquatic life.

The warning signs we’re ignoring

• How invertebrates act as the “canary in the coal mine” for river health—and why their disappearance is deeply concerning.

Filming in extreme conditions

• From diving in polluted waters to capturing the shocking reality of sewage outflows—what it takes to document the truth.

Henley and the River Thames

• A preview of a new micro-documentary exploring what lies beneath one of the UK’s most iconic stretches of river—connecting rowing heritage with underwater reality.

Why storytelling matters

• How film can shift perception, inspire action, and make the invisible visible.

Key Takeaways

Rivers are not just recreational spaces—they are critical ecosystems supporting all life.

The UK’s freshwater environments are under sustained pressure and, in many places, declining.

Much of the damage is out of sight—and therefore out of mind.

Restoring rivers requires a shift in perspective: from human use to ecological health first.

“If that same amount of pollution was flowing down the street in Henley, there’d be an uproar. But because it’s in a river, it gets ignored.”

Why This Episode Matters

This is not an abstract environmental discussion. It’s a grounded, visual, and deeply human account of what’s happening to rivers across the UK—told by someone who has spent decades inside them.

And it raises a simple but uncomfortable question:

If we can’t see what’s happening beneath the surface, how can we expect to protect it?

Follow & Share

If this episode changes how you see rivers, share it.

Because awareness is the first step towards restoring what we’re losing.

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In this inaugural episode of the Future for Water podcast, Dave Wallace is joined by Claire Zambuni, founder of Future for Water, and Chris Szweda, environmental scientist and citizen scientist, to explore how a grassroots idea has evolved into a growing national movement.

From an impromptu river festival in the Pyrenees to the UK River Summit and now the River Summit & Festival in Henley-on-Thames, this conversation traces the origin story, the momentum, and the deeper purpose behind bringing people together to rethink our relationship with water.

Along the way, they unpack the role of citizen science, the power of collaboration, and why creating open, “safe” spaces for honest conversation may be the most important ingredient in driving real change.

• The origin story of Future for Water and the River Summit
• Why water conversations have historically been fragmented — and how that’s changing
• The rise of citizen science and its role in holding systems to account
• Inside the Testing the Waters Consortium and its growing impact
• How data, technology, and even AI are changing how we understand river health
• Why Henley-on-Thames has become a focal point for this movement
• The launch of the Future for Water Impact Awards
• What happens when you bring activists, scientists, regulators, and communities into the same room 

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.