A new Channel 4 drama, 'Dirty Business,' revisits the 1999 death of Julie Maughan's daughter from E coli, likely contracted from sewage-contaminated water. The series aims to expose the widespread illegal dumping by UK water companies and spark public outrage over a crisis that has devastating human consequences and destroyed families.
Julie Maughan recounts the devastating loss of her eight-year-old daughter, Heather Preen, who died in 1999 from E coli O157 after contracting the pathogen on a Devon beach. Maughan believes Heather was infected after her foot entered water from a sewage outlet on what was supposed to be a 'Blue Flag' beach. This tragedy shattered Maughan's family, leading to her separation from Heather's father, Mark Preen, who later took his own life. Heather's story is a central, harrowing strand of 'Dirty Business,' a new three-part Channel 4 factual drama. The series, featuring actors Jason Watkins and David Thewlis as 'sewage sleuths,' aims to spark public anger over water pollution by exposing how raw sewage dumping has become standard practice for England's water companies. It highlights that the privatization of the water industry in 1989 and subsequent deregulation prioritized profits over investment, leading to widespread treatment plant failures and the flushing of untreated sewage into waterways. In 2024 alone, water companies dumped raw sewage for 3.61 million hours. Despite 14 complaints about sewage on Dawlish Warren beach before Heather's family holiday, and other E coli cases, the inquest into Heather's death returned a verdict of misadventure, failing to identify the source. Maughan, who has continued to campaign and fundraise, hopes 'Dirty Business' will finally force systemic change, advocating for public ownership of the water industry and emphasizing the deadly human consequences of these pathogens. South West Water has stated they cannot comment on the program yet but maintain Dawlish Warren has had excellent bathing water quality classifications since 1996 and samples were clear of E coli during investigations at the time.
