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Water Firms ‘Greenwashing’ To Deflect Pollution Attention

The water crisis in the UK appears to be growing more and more scandalous by the day, with utility companies coming under fire increasingly for sewage discharges into waterways (many of which are illegal), as well as underinvesting in vital infrastructure upgrades while paying out significant bonuses and dividends to company executives.

While, of course, there have been many statements issued over the last few years by water firms that they’re working on improvements and are sorry for poor performance, it seems that a lot of this is, in fact, lip service – if the findings of a new report by environmental scientists are to be believed.

Carried out by the University of Portsmouth, along with the University of Manchester, Windrush Against Sewage Pollution and an independent expert, the study – published in the Nature Water journal – found that companies have been using strategies to downplay the environmental harm they cause, while misrepresenting facts, shifting blame, undermining scientific research and delaying action.

Alarming findings

In all, nine water and sewage companies were included in the study: Severn Trent, Yorkshire Water, Northumbrian Water, Anglian Water, United Utilities, Wessex Water, South West Water, Southern Water and Thames Water.

Analysis of communications was carried out of websites, social media, public reports and evidence given to Parliamentary committees, indicating that these firms softened the language they used around raw sewage discharges by calling sewage treatment sites water recycling centres.

They also described overflows as containing heavily diluted rainwater, even when untreated sewage was present at levels that posed public health risks.

Many firms claimed that the effects of these discharges were temporary or minimal, despite the fact that there was limited evidence to back this up and despite the fact that ecological harm was being done.

Public campaigns were also implemented that blamed customers for overflows, often suggesting that it was the flushing of wet wipes that was the primary cause, while simultaneously downplaying infrastructure issues. The costs associated with these concerns were then exaggerated in a bid to manage expectations around investment and reform.

It was argued that strategies such as these were a distraction from the need to upgrade ageing infrastructure, with billions going to shareholders instead and debts mounting to more than £56 billion, while essential upgrades were neglected.

What is greenwashing?

This study analysis was compared against a framework of 28 different greenwashing tactics often used by chemical, fossil fuel, alcohol and tobacco industries.

Tactics included blaming other causes, invoking censorship and overregulation, using hyperbolic or absolutist language, posing as a defender of health or truth, appealing to the mass media, normalising negative incomes, impeding government regulation, influence the government, altering products so they seem healthier, and appealing to emotions.

In the water sector, it was found that 22 out of the 28 tactics were employed.

Because there is growing consumer demand for businesses of all kinds and across all industries to be more sustainable in their approach, there has been a growing trend for companies to greenwash their efforts, where they provide the public and/or investors with misleading or deliberately false information about their environmental impact.

Greenwashing also often involves emphasising the sustainable features of their products to distract people from their involvement in other more environmentally harmful practices, whether that’s through the use of misleading labels, hiding tradeoffs or the use of environmental imagery on products and other branded items.

Expert commentary

Commenting on the Portsmouth University study, lead author professor Alex Ford said: “Water and sewage companies have prolonged environmental injustice by using a playbook of tactics other large polluters have relied upon in the past to mislead the public and influence government agencies or laws.

“These companies have adopted a playbook of denial, deflection, and distraction, similar to other major polluting industries, to protect profits at the expense of the environment and public health.”

Professor Ford went on to note that the financial exploitation of England’s water resources raises important global issues about water security and environmental stewardship. He called for more careful scrutiny of communications by water companies, as well as the organisations and individuals that are responsible for environmental management.

The publication called for stricter industry communications regulation to tackle greenwashing and misinformation. Furthermore, additional investment in sustainable solutions must be seen, including modernising sewerage systems and restoring wetlands.

“Water as a finite resource, and in a monopolised industry, could become more profitable when financial drivers are poorly regulated.

“These same financial drivers have resulted in a failing infrastructure which hasn’t increased capacity or been maintained to cope with population growth, climate change and our improved knowledge of chemical contaminants,” Professor Ford further observed.

Policymakers are now being urged to prioritise transparency and safeguard water security as the realities of climate change continue to bite.