{"podcast":{"title":"The Fourcast","slug":"the-fourcast-1366209","podcast_index_feed_id":1366209,"rss_url":"https://anchor.fm/s/1056b19ac/podcast/rss","website_url":"https://www.channel4.com/news/the-fourcast","image_url":"https://d3t3ozftmdmh3i.cloudfront.net/staging/podcast_uploaded_nologo/43758723/143c5bd14fc66ee5.png","author":"Channel 4 News","episode_count":256,"summary":"A podcast from Channel 4 News taking an in-depth look at the biggest stories from Westminster, Washington and around the world. From global conflicts to the corridors of power, we expose, examine and interrogate what's really going on with the people who really know. Watch the episodes here: https://www.channel4.com/news/the-fourcast","last_synced_at":"2026-08-01T04:20:26.195980+00:00","page_url":"https://stenobird.com/podcast/the-fourcast-1366209"},"episode":{"title":"Sewage scandal - the system letting water companies off the hook","slug":"sewage-scandal-the-system-letting-water-companies-off-the-hook","published_at":"2026-05-06T16:35:19+00:00","page_url":"https://stenobird.com/podcast/the-fourcast-1366209/sewage-scandal-the-system-letting-water-companies-off-the-hook","show_page_url":"https://stenobird.com/podcast/the-fourcast-1366209","url":"https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/thefourcastc4news/episodes/Sewage-scandal---the-system-letting-water-companies-off-the-hook-e3ivv94","audio_url":"https://anchor.fm/s/1056b19ac/podcast/play/119585508/https%3A%2F%2Fd3ctxlq1ktw2nl.cloudfront.net%2Fstaging%2F2026-4-6%2F423607651-44100-2-687f3dbd6eb75.mp3","summary":"It’s the dirty secret at the heart of England’s waterways. The water companies publicly insist they are cleaning up their act, but privately they have been allowed to avoid prosecution for years through a little-known mechanism which lets a company admit fault and pay money to a good cause instead of facing criminal charges. The Environment Agency says the payments are a “brilliant tool”, faster and simpler than taking a case through a lengthy court process. But Channel 4 News has uncovered how these payments have been used repeatedly by water companies accused of polluting rivers, allowing them to sidestep court, scrutiny, and conviction. Our investigation has also found that the Environment Agency has not completed a single prosecution of a water company for any pollution occurring in the last five years, despite almost two million sewage discharges. In this episode of The Fourcast, Krishnan Guru-Murthy speaks to Chief Correspondent Alex Thomson, who has been looking into this story, campaigner Fergal Sharkey, and whistleblower Robert Forrester, who has firsthand experience of how these cases are handled inside the system.","meta_description":"It’s the dirty secret at the heart of England’s waterways. The water companies publicly insist they are cleaning up their act, but privately they have bee…","key_points":[],"chapters":[],"topics":[],"duration_seconds":1989,"processing_state":"not_requested","actions":[{"name":"request_transcript","method":"POST","url":"https://stenobird.com/v1/public/podcasts/the-fourcast-1366209/episodes/sewage-scandal-the-system-letting-water-companies-off-the-hook/transcription-requests","description":"Idempotently request low-priority transcript generation for this episode."},{"name":"read_markdown","method":"GET","url":"https://stenobird.com/podcast/the-fourcast-1366209/sewage-scandal-the-system-letting-water-companies-off-the-hook.md","description":"Read the agent-friendly Markdown representation of this episode resource."}]}}