Cover shot: Julie, left with Surfers Against Sewage’s Community Water Quality Officer Lizze Cresswell.
By now, you may have seen Channel 4’s Dirty Business, the short-form series slash documentary that takes aim at private water companies – and the state of UK water, which has been packed full of sewage for decades.
One of the most harrowing stories is that of Julie Preen (now Maughan), whose daughter Heather walked through an overflowing CSO in Dawlish, came into contact with human faeces, contracted e.coli and tragically died a few days later in 1999. Heather was eight-years-old.
Now, Julie has spoken out about the experience, the screening of the series, how it felt like watching a flashback and played into her PTSD, how she wants more people to check water conditions before travelling to any part of the UK coastline and to generate more awareness from people who may live in hand.
In an interview with Wavelength, Julie spoke out about the privatisation of water companies, how SAS are making a difference and so much more. Here, we let Julie tell her experience, in her own words.
Julie
“When we had the private screening of Dirty Business, I knew I had to see it all. I didn’t want anything softened. We did three hours in one go. It was difficult, there were tears, and I’ve lived with PTSD and flashbacks for years, so at times it genuinely felt like watching one long flashback. But I was blown away.
“From the beginning, the one thing I kept saying to the team was; it has to be real. We cannot sugar-coat this. We cannot make it palatable. People think E.coli is just a tummy bug, being a bit poorly. It’s not. It’s a toxin that poisons children. It’s sinister. It’s dangerous. It’s not a pleasant death. I needed people to see that. Watching your child go through that is the worst thing imaginable, and there was no treatment. Nothing could be done. That helplessness, they got that across. They got it 100%. Even in the inquest scenes, the anger and the frustration, I felt heard by the team. I felt listened to. They did Heather justice.
Scanned images of Heather, provided by the family.
“When they laid Heather on our laps in those scenes and then when they took her away, the finality of it. Neither of us knew what to do. We were just left standing there thinking, ‘What do we do now?’ You don’t know what to say. Mark spent the whole night in the chapel of rest, he wouldn’t leave her side. They listened to every detail I gave them and put it right back on screen. That’s the point I had to walk out of the room during the screening. It was too real. But it was spot on.
“Posy [Sterling, who played Julie in the series] and Tom [McKay, who played Heather’s father, Mark] were incredible. Posy and I were messaging constantly, I was sending voice notes to the dialect coach so she could practise her Brummie accent. Tom spent so much time understanding Mark. Mark was a man’s man. He wasn’t someone who opened up easily. After watching the series, I even messaged Tom to say, ‘You’ve shifted something in me, you’ve made me realise things about Mark I hadn’t fully seen.’ They really got to know us. They were consulting right the way through.
Winning The First Battle
“After the inquest, I naively thought that was it, job done. We got the verdict we wanted; death by misadventure, because this was a death that should never have happened. We got recommendations, signage, UV treatment, it felt like Heather had accomplished something. But I couldn’t rest. There was no way I could let another family go through what we did.
“For years before this, my life was about supporting Surfers Against Sewage and kidney research, but if you walked into my local gym, we’re landlocked, people wouldn’t know anything about it. That’s the problem. We book holidays, we see glossy brochures and adverts and we’re oblivious to what’s really going on. Dirty Business has made people aware, but those of us inland need to be engaged too. The people living by the water are fighting so hard, we’ve all got to get behind them.
“I remember watching the Boat Race in 2025, we love it, and seeing the environmental guy taking samples, talking about E.coli levels, telling people to wear plasters — as if that’s going to save you. I had to switch it off. I couldn’t watch it. That’s when it hit me again; this is still happening. Hearing people on the radio talk about polluted rivers, it started to sink in that Heather’s death had been forgotten. How many people have to die before someone thinks about the consequences? At the time, I said I didn’t want money, I wanted learning. What are we going to do differently? How do we protect public health? All these years on, what happened to that? Why has my little girl been swept under the carpet?
“When I was approached about the documentary, I said, ‘Let’s bring her back. Make them realise this is dangerous.’ Because without people like Ash Smith and Peter Hammond from WASP (Windrush Against Sewage Pollution), Heather would have been lost. They are the heroes. As a mum, they brought Heather back into the light. Hopefully now, she can help make the changes that need to happen.
Julie, centre, with Chris Hines, founder of SAS. Then left to right; Jo Morley, Head of Campaigns and Advocacy at SAS, Giles Bristow CEO, Community Water Quality Officer Lizzie Cresswell and Chloe Flood, SAS Senior Campaigns Officer, next to the Dirty Water installation on London’s South Bank depicting statues vomiting after ingesting contaminated water. Photo: imagecomms
Not About Scaring People
“This shouldn’t be about scaremongering. It’s about giving people the knowledge to have a safe, happy holiday. Check where the CSOs are. Don’t make the mistake we made and walk straight through one. Surfers Against Sewage are champions in cleaning this country up, go on their website. Suzanne [Julie’s daughter] is obsessed now with checking discharge alerts. We need the landlocked to engage. We need people to vote with their feet. If the tourist industry starts losing business in places that allow sewage to be pumped out, then suddenly you’ve got a powerful ally. People in charge will have to listen.
“Heather made sure Dawlish is cleaner. But we can do more, across the country, across the world. If half the people inland start making informed choices, businesses will take note. That’s all I’ve ever wanted, preventative measures. Protect public health. Don’t let another family stand there wondering what to do next.
“It’s taken everything I have to do this. But if getting Heather’s story back out there creates a wave, a tsunami of people demanding better, then she hasn’t been forgotten. And maybe that’s how we finally make change.”
View this post on Instagram
***
What to do next? Visit the Surfers Against Sewage website and touch base with your local representative. You can help join thr fight through regional protests or connect with like-minded people. You can also message your MP to put them onto the great water crisis in the UK. Go here to track down your local MP.
