Sewage in our Rivers and Why it is Happening

I need to mention that this article focuses on sewage pollution by water companies. There are other serious  sources of water pollution: from farming; road drains; and dog treatments which collectively are more serious  than sewage. 

All the rivers in England are polluted and dying. And for the past two years the issue of  sewage being poured into our rivers has been a topical item of news. Why has this  happened and why is it not being stopped? The reasons are a combination of financial  greed, poor law enforcement, underfunding of those responsible for catching the criminals,  a lack of political will and the climate crisis. 

The big picture is that a Climate and Ecological Crisis is unfolding in which scientists have  predicted stormy, wetter winters and more frequent droughts in summer for the South  West. The main cause of this change in weather is rising temperatures in which summers  are hotter and the air from the Atlantic can carry more moisture for rain in winter. We know  the solution to that is to stop putting too much CO2 into the atmosphere. 

The consequences for our water supplies and sewage are serious. Heavy rains can cause  flooding, the topsoil can be washed off the land, and drains can be come overloaded at  times. If the rainwater and sewage is not separated out this puts pressure on the water  systems. One response is to pour the sewage into rivers during a storm, killing much of the wildlife that lives in it. In periods of drought farmers need more water for crops and if they  haven’t saved water it has to come out of our rivers. 

The job of the water companies, such as South West Water, is to manage these demands  and challenges within a long term climate and ecological crisis strategy. This they have  failed to do. 

Water companies were privatised 30 years ago and it has been an economic and  environmental failure. Over the past decade water companies have neglected over £10  billion of improvements. 

The water companies have failed to upgrade Victorian sewers and sewage plants. They  have illegally poured millions of litres of raw sewage in to rivers, sometime when there  hasn’t been a storm, just to save money. 

Water Companies are run by regional monopolies which are mostly owned by non-British  equities that intentionally create debt to feed shareholders.

Consumers fund the debt  repayments and shareholder dividends through high bills and they experience a  deteriorating service. The majority of consumers, unlike the government, want to stop river  pollution and protect nature. In fact 69% of us want water run for people & nature not profit. 

The public outcry lead to campaigns by surfers, anglers and environmental groups to put a stop to illegal dumping of sewage. The government set up a select committee to look into  the problem and give advice. The government received the report, and when it responded  this August after a considerable delay, there was shock and dismay by almost everyone  involved.

Storm Overflow Discharge Reduction Plan (August 2022) 

The new government position is: 

• To allow storm overflow discharges of 100% into or close to current ‘high priority  sites’ which will continue to have a negative ecological impact until 2035.  • And to allow 25% to carry on for a further 10 yrs.  

• Everywhere else will be allowed storm discharges for the next 28 years until 2050.  

Is this the solution the public, the campaigners, the Environment Select Committee was  asking for? No, it is a way of avoiding doing anything to upset shareholders. 

In preparing this Plan the government did not consult with the Environment Agency (EA),  the government body responsible for monitoring our rivers and prosecuting offenders. 

Changing the Law to Suit the Criminal 

The law states, in the Water Industry Act of 1991, that water companies have a duty to  make ‘sewage harmless and inoffensive’. Storm discharges are only permitted in  exceptional circumstances. Incredible as it seems, the government Plan is to advise water  companies to continue to break this law by weakening it. 

In the 19th century the government was forced to respond to river pollution, cholera and  typhoid epidemics and the stench of the Thames outside the House of Commons. At that  time most sewage went directly into rivers. The new Victorian sewage systems were  designed to filter and clean waste. They were to allow sewage into rivers only in  exceptional circumstances, such as when a storm caused an overflow of combined  rainwater and sewage. Today water companies routinely pour tons of sewage into rivers,  often when there has not been a storm, because it saves them money. They have failed to  build enough new sewage plants and failed to separate sewage from rainwater. 

The government has a poor record of policing water companies in the past, can we trust  they will be any better in the future? A previous government set targets in England and  Wales for waters to be brought up to standard by 22^nd December 2021. They failed, and  this was after an initial target of 2015 was missed. 

The government has said it is too expensive to clean up our rivers and that we should pay  for the new infrastructure through taxes or higher water bills. Meanwhile billions are given  out to shareholders, and directors of failing companies continue to be given six figure  bonuses. 

The Lyn river system is generally in good health because the sewage discharges that  were made locally by South West Water (SWW) last year (over 50 of them) were pumped  into the sea at Lynmouth, not affecting the river above that point, but surfers have  complained of floating excrement. The local river system is further shielded from serious  pollution because there is no industry and very little housing by the river and the wooded  slopes catch any farming pollution run off. The river is also fast flowing and flushes out  quickly, but the Lyn is very vulnerable to Climate Heating. Many insects that are food for  dippers, grey wagtails and trout are dependent on cold water and rapid water flows. As our  summers become drier much of the insect life will die off and we will see dry river beds that will find it hard to recover even though the winters will have increased levels of water.

Devon County Council recognised in July how serious sewage pollution of Devon rivers  has become by passing a highly critical motion. The motion passed by the Council  said,‘This Council considers sewage discharges and the associated harm to wildlife and  public health totally unacceptable…..’ They called upon SSW to cease these practices  urgently. The also called on the CEO Susan Davey to withhold some of her £1.7 million  salary until the situation is ‘substantially improved’. 

There needs to be a similar level of concern and urgency from central government. The EA and OFWAT need to be properly funded so they can catch the criminals polluting our rivers and beaches. We need yearly specific targets with penalties for failure to comply, perhaps  with the threat of criminal prosecution hanging over senior executives. 

It would be good to see the government implement the recommendations of the  environment select committee (2021) that recently investigated the sewage pollution of  rivers. For example they recommended: 

A review of the self monitoring of water companies. The water companies appear to be  repeatedly and frequently breaking the terms of permits by illegally releasing untreated  sewage regularly into rivers; 

Extend the number of substances the Environment Agency monitors on rivers, eg  microplastics, hormones and certain drugs; 

Ban the use of plastic wet wipes and other single use products.