Our Common Rivers

The idea of the commons often centres around land, but what about our rivers?

We are in a time of unprecedented pollution and degradation of our rivers. Sewage  outflows, agricultural pollution from industrial animal farming, as well as fertilisers and pesticides being washed off arable fields into our river systems means that there is barely an inch of river in the UK that isn’t awash with chemicals.

We have eutrophication, killing off entire ecosystems. People, even when they can actually get to a riverbank to go swimming (which is no mean feat considering that we only have the right to swim in about 3% of our rivers), often end up sick, with potentially very dangerous infections.

Layer this on top of centuries of straightening, deepening, trawling and generally bending our rivers out of all natural shape and behaviour, and you get what we have now - a total disaster.

Our rivers have been held up to us by organisations such as River Action UK, Right to Roam, and the River Roding Trust, making sure that we can’t look away as our rivers fade away. People have rightly been outraged at sewage companies (though often the farmers polluting our waterways barely get a mention, and neither do the farmers actively trying to stop the pollution). There has been talk of nationalising the water companies, but there is no political will to deliver on this.

But why stop there? Why not bring the water companies, and the very rivers themselves into the guardianship of the people that live by them by making them into commons?

There’s even an existing system that is used in Spain, which Nobel-prize winning economist Elinor Ostrom wrote about in her book, Governing the Commons. A series of nested levels of governance, from the hyper-local to the regional would ensure that local communities have autonomy and independence to make the best decisions for their rivers, while working within a greater river and watershed framework.

And what would this do for the rivers? Instead of private landowners and water companies secretly getting away with polluting rivers, with barely any oversight or penalties, local communities could ensure that polluting behaviour stops. Considering the cause of most river pollution, this would have knock-on effects, decreasing industrial animal farming, and switching to more organic and nature friendly-farming techniques. There would have to be a shift in how sewage was dealt with. With everyone able to have a say and a hand in the choices made, a mindset shift would be unavoidable. We would develop a deep understanding of the need for balance, living sustainably in our environment, as the water that we depend on would become entrusted to us.

With all of the waterways opened up, the beauty of these islands would be open to everyone. Many eyes to see and hearts to love. We could make collective decisions about sections of river systems to stay out of for ecological reasons. We could welcome back beavers without all of the stalling of government getting in the way. We could rewiggle rivers, restore floodplains and create resilience in the land to face the climate crisis. Our rivers restored would help beat back the collapse in biodiversity.

Let’s be honest - no other way had worked. The free market will never compel the protection or restoration of our rivers. Government has not managed it either, despite much ado with the sewage companies. It’s time to hand the rivers back to the people and allow the commons to clean up this mess.