Sewage dumped in Warwickshire river on average 2.7 times a day
A WARWICKSHIRE MP has revealed that there were 980 sewage dumps into the River Avon in 2022, totalling 5,717 hours.
Matt Western, Labour MP for Warwick and Leamington, said there were also 210 dumps into the River Leam, totalling 910 hours.
“These figures are the equivalent of sewage being discharged into the River Avon 2.7 times a day,” he said.
Mr Western has raised the issue of sewage dumping locally many times and has accused the government of failing to take serious action to tackle the problem. He’s now started a public petition calling on the government to clean up local waterways.
He’s focused on the issue in parliament on numerous occasions, most recently inviting Thérèse Coffey, the Environment Secretary, to “don a cozzie” and take a dip in the River Avon to see the impact of the hundreds of sewage dumps herself. She did not take him up on his offer.
Mr Western said: “The state of our waterways is shocking, and it is disgraceful that the government have allowed water companies to get away with dumping sewage into them for so long.
“I know how valued our waterways are, particularly in the summer months and school holidays when families look to the rivers for a day out and chance to cool off. However, they are now faced with the prospect that our much-loved waterways could very easily be full of sewage.
“The government must do more to tackle this problem they have let get out of control. It’s unfair on families up and down the country who want to enjoy our beautiful countryside and nature, not be on the receiving end of the Conservatives’ sewage scandal.”
Mr Western told the Herald he believed there was “negligible control and oversight” of the water companies. The Environment Agency simply didn’t have the resources to monitor all the rivers.
Of the government, Mr Western said: “They’ve had 13 years to sort this out, and it’s just got progressively worse, particularly over the past two years.”
He said there should be tough sanctions on failing water companies and the ending of systematic discharges into the waterways by 2030.
Wilfred Denga, delivery business lead at Severn Trent Water, told the Herald: “We’re investing £78 million on river quality improvements on the River Leam and River Avon, as well as the River Teme in Shropshire as part of our Bathing Rivers programme, to help move stretches of river towards bathing quality by 2025.
“As part of this project, the River Leam will benefit from having pioneering ozone disinfection technology installed, a first in the UK, to go even further in making our commitment to make rivers healthy.
“This project helps form an industry-leading plan that we’re delivering, which includes bold commitments, such as by 2030 our operations will cause no harm to rivers. In the first year of this plan, we’ve reduced our impact by a third, but we know there’s more to do, which is why we’re continuing to invest hundreds of millions of pounds into making rivers the healthiest they can be.”
