A Personal Note from Daniella Boon: Why I Volunteer for Waterwatch UK

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Hello, I’m Daniella Boon, the Founder and CEO of Waterwatch UK. As someone passionate about safeguarding our waters and ensuring accountability across all sectors, I’m doing all of this on a voluntary basis. It’s a passion project because I deeply believe in the importance of protecting our waterways for everyone, now and for future generations.

All funds received by Waterwatch UK will go directly into managing and maintaining the Water Quality Summit Committee and future Community Water Quality Panels. None of it comes to me personally; it’s all about the cause. But to keep this mission alive and growing, I need help. I’d love for more volunteers to join the movement and make a real difference. Right now, we’re especially in need of someone to help manage our social media and, ideally, someone with WordPress experience who can edit and update our website. If you have the skills and the drive to contribute, please get in touch, your support would mean the world.

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Transparency, Independence, and Accountability

At Waterwatch UK, we are proudly non political. This independence is vital to holding all parties accountable, whether they are local authorities, MPs adhering to party lines, or other stakeholders. Political conflicts of interest, particularly when officials represent the same party, often hinder impartial decision making. Waterwatch UK offers a neutral platform, ensuring decisions are driven by evidence and the community’s best interests, not politics.

To date, Waterwatch UK has received a generous donation of £1,000 from the Essex Chambers of Commerce, which represents businesses across the region and trusts our independence. Anglian Water has also shown their support by match funding this donation. These funds have been critical in covering the setup of Waterwatch UK as an independent entity, including company registration, website management, hosting, email accounts, and will fund future water summits, community meetings, and training sessions.

We’ve also enlisted Wild Bookkeeping to manage our accounts and are donating their time pro bono, along with an independent auditor from Hancock and Hastings to ensure that every penny is accounted for. This commitment to financial transparency reflects the trust we strive to build with all stakeholders.

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Building Professional Relationships for Change

Over the past two years, I’ve developed a professional and collaborative relationship with Anglian Water. I’ll admit, I came into our initial meeting at Stock Road “all guns blazing,” ready to demand immediate change. But that experience taught me valuable lessons about the complexities of managing wastewater and the shared responsibility we all have in addressing these issues.

Through learning how combined sewer overflows (CSOs) operate for instance, that they don’t open when the tide is in, as the valves are closed to prevent backflow onto streets I gained a deeper understanding of the challenges involved. I also learned how everyday actions, like paving over driveways or installing astroturf gardens, exacerbate the problem by preventing rainwater from soaking into the ground. Instead, it overwhelms the sewers. Add road runoff and wet wipes clogging the system, and you have a recipe for overloading a Victorian sewage infrastructure that wasn’t designed for modern demands.

Clearing up our waterways isn’t an overnight fix, but by working together with government agencies, water companies, businesses, and communities we can make meaningful progress. Waterwatch UK serves as a bridge, fostering collaboration to ensure real change happens.

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What’s Next?

Looking ahead, I want to expand our efforts to include public education. This includes creating videos and updates on practical steps everyone can take to help mitigate sewage spills like avoiding flushing wet wipes down the toilet or pouring oils, fats, and greases down the sink. Simple actions like these can collectively reduce the pressure on our sewage systems and make a big difference.

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Join the Cause

Waterwatch UK is built on the power of community, and we can’t do it without you. Whether you can volunteer your time or bring skills like social media management or WordPress expertise to the table, you’ll be making a direct impact. Together, we can grow this movement, hold polluters accountable, and build a better future for our waterways.

If you’d like to get involved, please don’t hesitate to reach out. Let’s work together to ensure clean, safe water for all.

Thank you for your support,
Daniella
Founder and CEO, Waterwatch UKinfo@waterwatchuk.org