The Telegraph has launched a Clean Rivers campaign – saying the campaign is needed “to reverse the damage to our waterways before they succumb once again to the sort of pollution that took decades to eradicate.”

The online and print news publisher officially launched the campaign yesterday in a highly critical Telegraph View editorial comment article entitled “We need a national plan to clean up Britain's filthy rivers.”

The article attributes “the filth in our rivers” as partly due to the “consequence of decades of low investment in sewage plants.”

According to The Telegraph, the majority of the UK’s waste water systems date back to the 19th century and have “hardly been upgraded since.” The article also warns that the £4.2 billion Tideway Tunnel super sewer for London to replace Bazalgette’s sewerage system for the capital is “unlikely to be able to cope” with a city which has since quadrupled in size.

The publisher says it is launching the campaign “to reverse the damage to our waterways before they succumb once again to the sort of pollution that took decades to eradicate.”

The article is accompanied by a series of separate critical articles, including a news story entitled “Water company bosses should have pay linked to pollution, head of Ofwat says” which goes on to explain that David Black, Ofwat’s interim chief executive has told the Telegraph that water company chief executives should have their pay linked to levels of pollution, “excess” returns must be reined in and action taken to clean up sewage in rivers.

Click here to read the Telegraph Editorial Comment.