“A slender portion of common sense . . . authorises me to affirm that a stream which receives daily the evacuations of a million human beings . . . cannot require to be analysed except by a lunatic to determine whether it ought to be pumped up as a beverage for the inhabitants.” Surfers Against Sewage (SAS) in 2022? No, this statement was made in 1828 to a public commission in London about the disease caused by dumping sewage in the Thames, as described by journalist and author Nick Higham in his book The Mercenary River — Private Greed, Public Good: A History of London’s Water.

Skip forward nearly 200 years, and what headlines do we read: “Sewage storm: Water groups accused of ‘dry spills’” (Report, November 24)?

Like the individual scientists who called out officialdom and greedy private companies in the 1800s, it seems that we, the public, must rely on not-for-profit organisations such as SAS to seek justice against greed and corruption. It is high time that the water companies were taken to task.

Jo Jacobius
London N6, UK