this post was submitted on 22 Oct 2025
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[–] unexposedhazard@discuss.tchncs.de 17 points 1 week ago (5 children)

to deposit or dispose of waste in a way likely to pollute land or water

Its not "likely" at all tho, because the drain leads to a water treatment plant that constantly deals with literal feces...

[–] AnyOldName3@lemmy.world 39 points 1 week ago (2 children)

It's the UK. It's a big scandal at the moment that most of the drains lead to rivers, lakes and the sea with only a small fraction of sewage actually being processed before being released from the processing plant. The fines for not processing the sewage were smaller than the costs of building and running treatment plants, so the water companies have just been paying the fines and giving all the money they were paid to build the treatment plants to shareholders as dividends. As no one's broken any laws they haven't already nominally been punished for, there aren't any realistic and politically tenable solutions unless billions of pounds can become magically available.

[–] unexposedhazard@discuss.tchncs.de 19 points 1 week ago (3 children)

Well thats fucking outrageous. That means the UK is constantly flooding the ocean with tire rubber, oil and gasoline, dropped trash, fecal matter from animals, etc

[–] Reddfugee42@lemmy.world 9 points 1 week ago (2 children)

If you're worried about animal fecal matter making it into the waterways, I have bad news about fish

[–] lost_faith@lemmy.ca 5 points 1 week ago (1 children)

"I don't drink water, fish fuck in it." - I forget who said this

[–] AnUnusualRelic@lemmy.world 3 points 1 week ago (1 children)

Fish don't actually fuck though.

[–] lost_faith@lemmy.ca 3 points 1 week ago (1 children)

Even worse, they spew it all into the water (in specific areas where they "spawn"). In this case "fuck" was used as a procreation term rather than the literal penetration.

Those arent filled up with antibiotics, but you are right.

[–] healthetank@lemmy.ca 2 points 1 week ago

Lol, this is not anything new or crazy - All of NA infrastructure is built the same way. I'd be surprised if there were many places in the world that weren't built this way.

[–] dependencyinjection@discuss.tchncs.de 5 points 1 week ago (1 children)

We should nationalise them and don’t give them a penny. We can then fix this mess and then invest in our future.

[–] AnyOldName3@lemmy.world 2 points 1 week ago

Even if nationalised, our water infrastructure still needs hundreds of billions of pounds investing in it to bring it up to an acceptable standard, and the government doesn't have the money and has other priorities to spend it on if they magically got a surprise pile of cash. The only financially viable way to fix the problem in a hurry would be to seize past dividends from water company shareholders to cover the cost of doing the things the water companies were supposed to be doing (which would conveniently tank the share prices and make nationalising the water much cheaper), but lots of pensions are propped up mostly by water shares, so doing that would plunge lots of pensioners into poverty, which isn't politically viable as the government's already in enough trouble for perceived being mean to pensioners, and they can't afford to support more impoverished pensioners.

[–] friend_of_satan@lemmy.world 11 points 1 week ago (2 children)

Is coffee even considered waste?

Yes, it is contaminated water and should not be poured into the surface drainage system. It doesn't connect to the sewers, it is separate and drains freely into rivers, lakes etc.

[–] wischi@programming.dev 7 points 1 week ago (1 children)

I don't know the situation in the UK but some countries have separate drains depending on if it's waste water or just a regular rain water drainage. Rain water drainages are often not treated in any way (because why, it's rainwater anyway) but waste water is processed in treatment plants.

[–] fluxion@lemmy.world 8 points 1 week ago* (last edited 1 week ago) (1 children)

It's not just rainwater once it's made it's way from the streets and into the gutter though.. i would hope there's some sort of treatment

[–] Thalion@lemmy.ca 11 points 1 week ago

There is not. Obviously I can't speak for every city in the world but any I'm familiar with either flow back to natural water sources, or to storm ponds to slowly evaporate/become ground water

[–] foo@feddit.uk 6 points 1 week ago (1 children)

They are supposed to, except that the water companies just chuck half of into rivers, untreated, to protect their profit margins, and until very recently got away with it scot free.

[–] dubyakay@lemmy.ca 2 points 1 week ago (1 children)

Is this a UK specific problem? In most countries water treatment are municipal services paid for by either taxes or levies.

[–] foo@feddit.uk 1 points 1 week ago (1 children)

It's privatised. It's paid for by taxes, but most local authorities put it out to tender and private companies bid for the contract. So, ultimately, some public money ends up in the pockets of shareholders.

[–] dubyakay@lemmy.ca 2 points 1 week ago

That's the most wicked shit.

[–] BananaTrifleViolin@piefed.world 5 points 1 week ago (1 children)

That is incorrect - there are 2 water drainage systems in the UK. Surface water / rain goes into the surface system and that flows freely into the water table untreated (rivers, lakes etc). It is not designed for dirty water.

The sewage system is totally separate - that is for contaminated water (toilets, sinks) and that goes to sewage treatment plants. It should be treated before it is released into the freshwater system.

So yes, it IS polluting the fresh water by putting things into the rain drainage system.

[–] unexposedhazard@discuss.tchncs.de -2 points 1 week ago (1 children)

Yeah i have already learned from other comments that the UK is uncivilized but thanks for the clarification.

[–] GreyEyedGhost@lemmy.ca 2 points 1 week ago

I'm not sure if it's an admirable trait to double down on your ignorance, but I'm kind of impressed by your willingness to do it in front of everyone.