The state of our rivers
None of our rivers are in good overall health. They all fail chemical standards, and just 14% pass the bar for good ecological health. (Source: Rivers Trust)
There are several major problems impacting the pollution of our rivers:
Agricultural practices such as poor nutrient management (fertilizers) and poor livestock management particularly the management of manure and slurry
Discharges of sewage effluent
Run off from roads especially in urban areas
All these issues need action but this blog is focused on sewage overflows as there is legislation planned for autumn 2022.
Sewage releases into our waterways
The Water Industry Act 1991 (part of the water privatisation process) requires water companies to “effectually deal” with sewage, rendering it innocuous before discharging the effluent to rivers, a requirement that is and has been enforceable for the last thirty years. The only circumstances in which discharges of untreated sewage direct to rivers is acceptable in law is during periods of heavy rainfall when the sewerage infrastructure can be overwhelmed and waste water has to be discharged to avoid any back up through the pipes to people’s homes. This is only meant to occur under 'exceptional circumstances'
The figures clearly show that sewage overflows are happening on a very significant scale. In 2021 there were over 2.6 million hours of sewage being discharged into rivers and coastlines across 3720,000 separate pollution events. 50% of sewage overflows pumped out sewage over 40 times. And one in five sewage overflows spewed out 60 times per year. (Source: Environment Agency)
Why hasn't this been resolved ?
Opinion polls clearly indicate very significant support for taking action to improve the state of our beaches, rivers and waterways with support from across the political spectrum.
In that case why is this taking so long to resolve ?
The core reason is that there is a need for significant investment in sewage infrastructure which water companies have either not addressed or not been allowed to address and successive governments have just turned a blind eye.
OfWat the water industry regulator and the Environment Agency who are responsible for the health of our waterways have also failed to enforce the existing legislation.
External factors like population growth and climate change further complicate the picture.
So what is happening to sort this out?
The Environment Act of 2021 introduced some additional obligations on water companies to provide real-time information and to monitor and report on the impact of discharges. The Government was also forced to commit to put forward a plan (the Storm Overflows Discharge Reduction Plan) to tackle sewage pollution and present this to parliament by September 2022.
Many campaigners feel there is no need for additional legislation as what is required is to enforce the existing law. In practice the aim of the Storm Overflows Discharge Reduction Plan is to create a clear timetable to resolve the issue.
The Government’s public consultation on its plan however has been greeted with dismay by environmental campaigners, wildlife organisations and all organisations with a deep commitment to the state of our waterways.
Under the plan half of storm overflows would still be spilling untreated sewage in 2040.
These are the government’s proposed targets:
Year | 2030 | 2035 | 2040 | 2045 | 2050 |
% of high priority storm overflows improved | 38% | 75% | 87% | 100% | 100% |
% of total storm overflows improved | 14% | 28% | 52% | 76% | 100% |
Indicative spill reductions | 44,000 | 84,000 | 160,000 | 240,000 | 320,000 |
This is the view of Salmon and Trout Conservation “The targets set out in the Plan are not only pathetically unambitious – they are also unlawful, in so far as they plan for continuing failure, in some cases for up to 30 years”.
The strong view of organisations like Friends of the Earth, The Rivers Trust, Surfers against Sewage and the Angling Trust is that any plan needs to tackle the under investment in sewage infrastructure with much clearer short term targets. The lack of enforcement of existing regulations by the Environment Agency and by OfWat aso needs to be addressed.
Other related areas also need to be addressed such as blockages caused by fats oils, greases and other ‘un-flushables’; the lack of options to separate waste water; and the lack of uptake of sustainable urban drainage designs to help slow the flow of stormwater into sewers.
Some water companies appear to be setting much more ambitious targets than the government. For example, Anglian Water’s aim is that by 2030 there will be no rivers in its area failing ecological health as a result of its activities. Nonetheless we need these informal commitments to be backed up by clearer legislation.
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