Sewage and Our Rivers – It Stinks

My now ex party (Lib Dems) have been fighting on this for quite a while now around the country. The ex-leader Tim Farron most recently called for local people to have representation on Water Company boards to give some accountability (it’s that bad).

I also firmly believe that pressure needs to come to bear ASAP and are asking people to write to their MP’s for the following actions

First let our MP know that the establishment of a Storm Overflows Taskforce and a date of September 2022 from the Government to publish a plan to reduce sewage discharges from storm outflows is too little, too late to tackle the issue. Second, the rules on sewage discharges must be tightened and enforcement improved, in conjunction with the Environment Agency. Third, housing developers should meet all the costs of the required supply and disposal of water from new homes. Fourth, the Government must make capital funding urgently available to address these issues. Finally our MP writes to the relevant Government Ministers, requesting an acceleration in the capital programme to lower risks of untreated sewage discharges into our rivers, and an assurance that local housing developers will be expected to fund water infrastructure to meet the needs of new housing.

See for yourself how bad it is - The River Trust has an excellent interactive map https://www.theriverstrust.org/key-issues/sewage-in-rivers

The screengrab above from their site looks like the UK has a severe case of measles. No river appears safe.

Hoping you can help