BBC Radio Cumbria: Interview with Matt Staniek about new campaign film
Transcript
Pete Moss: On BBC Radio Cumbria. Now former Undertones frontman turned environmental campaigner Fergal Sharkey has championed the work of a Cumbrian clean water campaigner following the release of his new online video. Here's a section of Zoologist Matt Stanniek's latest film looking at how water company United Utilities are mitigating sewage releases into Windermere.
Matt VO on Film Excerpt: “United Utilities has instead invested in a brand new CCTV camera, which, as you can see, is pointing across an empty field, which I can only assume is to look at who is coming to and from the pipe.”
Pete Moss: Great little video on Matt Staniek's social media Twitter outlet. And Matt, I'm pleased to say, joins us now. Matt Staniek from Save Windermere. Good afternoon. Your film shows a CCTV camera at Near Sawrey. You're concerned about why it's there. That's the gist of it. United Utilities, says cameras are routinely used to monitor site operations and security. What do you say to them?
Matt: Well, I just think it's fantastic that this camera is pointing across an empty field which is privately owned with no footpath on it, and yet it's still a necessity to help secure the site itself. I'm more interested in what's going into the river, rather than who's coming to look at the river. And I think that's something that United Utilities should be focusing on as well.
Pete Moss: Now, water pollution is big news at the moment. What does it mean for your campaign that the former Undertones frontman turned clean water campaigner, Ferghal Sharkey, is supporting you?
Matt: It's fantastic. I'm a huge, huge fan of Ferghal and the work that he's doing. He's definitely not my era when it comes to music, but he is leading the fight against what is happening to our fresh water and what is happening is just truly, truly disgusting. And I think from the conversations I've had with Ferghal, he sees the importance of Lake Windermere within this. And the fact that in 2022 we saw over 5,900 hours of untreated sewage spilled into the Windermere catchment, all of which has collated in Windermere lake itself, is completely unacceptable. I think he shares that view with me.
Pete Moss: United Utilities say they are allowed within the law Matt to release sewage into rivers and into Windermere to stop homes being flooded. What do you say to them?
Matt: So in 2012, I think it was, the European Commission took the UK government to court because they defined an exceptional circumstance, which is when sewage is supposed to be released into our waterways, as being such a rare and freak occurrence that not one single individual could possibly have predicted it to happen. 5,900 hours in 2022, to me, does not seem like an exceptional circumstance that not one person could have possibly predicted. What we are seeing is just simply a lack of investment in infrastructure to ensure that in the21st century, sewage is not coming into our rivers. And that's the reality of it.
Pete Moss: Well, United Utilities say that they are investing £19 million to address sewage releases into the lake. So is it not credit where credit is due? What would be your message to United Utilities?
Matt: It's just simply not enough. When we look at the pretax profit, which was reported by the Times newspaper, United Utilities made a pretax profit in the first six months of 2022 of £426 million. So that would mean they would make back their £19 million pound investment they are currently proposing, nothing is yet solidified, they would make that back in just seven days. We are not seeing a proportional amount of investment to help secure the long term protection of England's largest lake. And so we need a lot more money invested in this infrastructure, not just to address the untreated sewage, but to actually help improve sewage treatment in the catchment in its entirety.
Pete Moss: Thanks for coming on. Matt Staniek from Save Windermere. And if you want to see Matt's video, which Ferghal Sharkey likes so much, go onto Matt's Twitter site. A spokesperson for United Utilities said, ‘We routinely use CCTV as part of our broader monitoring of site operations and security. We agree that more needs to be done to reduce stormwater spills and are bringing forward £19 million of investment to support Windermere, allowing us to start work early on several improvement projects.’
