We meet ‘the mermaid swimmer’, Lindsey Cole, at Conham River Park in Bristol. While travelling the River Avon to raise awareness of plastic pollution, she ran afoul – literally – of another issue, when she suddenly fell very ill, poisoned by sewage. We learn more about why, exactly, our waterways are such a mess and head to Gloucestershire to look at an ingenious human-made wetland on the banks of the Severn. We discover how special places like these can protect us from some of the nastiest bugs that make their way into our water, all through the power of nature.  
Featuring: Lindsey Cole, Dan Roberts (Project Manager, WWT), Hugo Tagholm (Founder, Surfers Against Sewage). Presented by Roxy Furman.  
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Waterlands is a series brought to you by the Wildfowl and Wetlands Trust. It’s an 18Sixty production, and the producer is Eliza Lomas.