In Episode 5 of On the Ground, the new podcast from Geographical, Laura Cole speaks to the whistleblower who spent a decade exposing how the Environmental Agency was turning a blind eye to water companies’ illegal activity
For a decade, Rob Forrester has been the unnamed source of dozens of news stories exposing neglect of the UK’s rivers. This year, at the end of a Channel 4 docu-drama, ‘Dirty Business’, his identity was finally revealed.
This is On The Ground, a new podcast from Geographical, written and hosted by Laura Cole. In this series, Laura will be getting out from behind her desk and on the ground, reporting from across the UK’s landscape – and speaking to the people changing it.
England is a world anomaly. Apart from Chile, it is the only country where water, a natural resource, is owned by private companies that turn a profit.
Since water was privatised in 1989, the labyrinthine network of pipes, pumping stations and reservoirs that make up the water and sewerage systems have been owned by companies, beholden to arguably even more complicated networks of global finance.
Between these companies and the rivers, stands the regulator – the Environment Agency. Twenty-one years ago, Robert Forrester started work there as a frontline officer. It was a dream job, until he started to notice things were changing. He sounded the alarm.
In this episode Laura Cole asks Rob Forrester how he fought illegal spills (and the broken regulation that allow them) with some spills of his own.
She wanted to know, what did it cost him, and knowing what he knows now, would he do it again?
Listen to the full story here, or find us on your favourite podcast app.
Listen to On The Ground on Apple Podcasts
If you enjoyed this episode, please leave a review and share it with a friend.
