Our environment correspondent jonah fisher has been to meet some of their customers who rely on the river thames being clean. are we mad? no, we re not mad at all. this is wonderful. look at this beautiful day, jonah. the water s looking gorgeous. the chance to swim with mermaids is not an offer you get every day. we started off as a group of five middle aged ladies who liked to swim. one thing led to another, and the henley mermaids started doing sponsored swims. goggles. a relay across the channel got them going. so we did that and then we kind of got a bit addicted to that. so then we did the bristol channel relay, and then we did the north channel relay. the thames is where the mermaids meet and train, but not before checking on the thames water website to see if sewage has been released nearby. so you can see from the map that there are no discharges happening at the moment in this area. there s one happening down there.
With the forecast cool but clean, the mermaids prepared me for the water. for added safety, then, a whistle, so if you get into trouble. she blows whistle. you ll all come and rescue me? we ll come like baywatch, yeah! iwas lured. if i have a wee, does it warm up a bit?! yes, it does! ..orwas it laughed in? they laugh. last year, thames water spilled sewage more than 8,000 times. something which even it had to admit was unacceptable. it s really refreshing, actually, to be in freshwater like this. the key thing is really not to think too much about what it is you might be swimming in. we ve seen sanitary products, condoms, sewage foam, stoma bags, sewage tide lines on the
Those are the words of the economic regulator ofwat. but the reason that the company s in trouble is money. despite paying out healthy dividends for most of the last 30 years, the company has racked up debts of £14 billion, and it s now under pressure both to make interest payments, and to invest in its creaking infrastructure. this morning, mps will speak to thames water bosses in parliament. so what would the mermaids ask them? where is all that money gone? because it doesn t seem to me that it s gone into infrastructure, and it certainly hasn t gone into making our rivers much cleaner. and if the water industry says bills will have to rise to fix the system. are you ready to collectively pay more? no, absolutely not. i m even considering not paying my sewage bill for thames water. why? because they re not doing anything with my money other than paying their shareholders.
Chance to swim with mermaids is not an offer you get everyday. one thing led to another, and the henley mermaids started doing sponsored swims. goggles. a relay across the channel got them going. so we did that and then we kind of got a bit addicted to that. so then we did the bristol channel relay, and then we did the north channel relay. the thames is where the mermaids meet and train, but not before checking on the thames water website to see if sewage has been released nearby. so you can see from the map that there are no discharges happening at the moment in this area. there s one happening down there. with the forecast cool but clean, the mermaids prepared me for the water. for added safety, then, a whistle, so if you get into trouble. last year, thames water spilled sewage more than 8,000 times. something which even it had something which even it had
Fans of H2O: Just Add Water have called out a Netflix 'blunder' that shows its three main characters wearing goggles while swimming underwater in their mermaid costumes