Surfers urge British water firms to cut the crap on sewage with ‘Floater’

The issue of raw sewage and other waste in the sea is making swimming and surfing up and down the UK untenable.

The agency commissioned award-winning, and Cornwall-based, sustainable designer and owner of Benthos Surf, Niall Jones, to create the ‘Floater’ – which uses recycled materials to form the body of the board and raw sewage from the sea, which was turned into a resin. To add impact, Jones also included two transparent windows at the top of the board that display the two liters of sewage water contained within.

As Jake Smith, a creative at Mr President explains: “we wanted to create something that raised awareness of the issue, an act of defiance and a middle finger to the polluters, from all the people who suffer. And that was how the ‘beautifully disgusting’ Floater was born.”

It follows research by SAS, published today (May 4), which reveals a damning distrust in water companies amid ongoing outrage at the levels of pollution occurring in UK waterways.

Seven in 10 (72%) say the UK Government should be doing more to tackle sewage pollution. An even bigger proportion (85%) think water company regulators need to do more to make sure water companies reduce sewage pollution. Two-thirds (69%) say sewage pollution puts them off going into the sea and rivers in the UK.

SAS is also urging the public to sign their ‘Dirty Money’ petition, which demands an end to water companies profiting from pollution and is seeking to convert public outrage into action by staging a mass paddle-out protest on beaches and rivers across the UK on May 20.

Josh Harris, head of communications at Surfers Against Sewage, says: “We’re urging anyone who feels passionately about protecting our blue spaces to join us on May 20 as we rise up against the polluters and stage a mass paddle-out protest across the UK. Water companies are wreaking havoc on our precious rivers and seas, and we refuse to stay silent.”