Cotswolds residents concerned over "bad smell" coming from rivers
It's claimed raw sewage is being dumped into rivers in Gloucestershire
Rsidents in the Cotswolds have raised concerns over the "bad smell" coming from rivers in the area.
Earlier this year a taskforce was setup by Gloucestershire County Council to tackle the levels of pollutions in rivers.
It was over concerns that water companies were dumping raw sewage into rivers causing them to become polluted and damaging wildlife.
Now, Gloucestershire Councillor Paul Hodgkinson says water companies have told him they have no plans to stop discharging raw sewage.
Last week the River Task Group held a meeting with the three water companies who serve Gloucestershire: Severn Trent, Wessex Water and Thames Water.
It's claimed in the meeting that Thames Water set a target to stop raw sewage releases by 2050 - while the other two companies said they had no plans at all.
Cllr Paul Hodgkinson, Group Leader for the Liberal Democrats and councillor for Bourton-on-the-Water and Northleach, said: "It was incredibly disappointing to hear that two of the biggest water companies in Gloucestershire have no plans to ever stop dumping raw sewage into our rivers, while a third plans to continue releases for the next thirty years.
“It was similarly illuminating that, under questioning, none of the companies believed that the Government’s Environment Bill would force them to change their behaviour.
“Residents will be rightly disturbed that, despite the public outcry, these water companies haven’t reconsidered their operations and that the celebrated Environment Bill will not clean up our rivers.
“We will continue our work to see how best we can force polluters to adapt and how best to publicise the pollution present in our rivers.”
What does the data say?
The latest figures from the Environment Agency show that raw sewage was dumped into rivers in England more than 400,000 times in 2020.
What do the water companies say?
There seems to be a disagreement about what is considered 'raw sewage'.
Gloucestershire councillors, along with other organisations, say the water being discharged is untreated and can include water from dishwasher and washing machines - and anything which gets flushed down the toilet.
But the water companies say that the majority of water being dumped into rivers from storm overflows is actually excess rain water.
The Environment Agency allows water utilities to release sewage into rivers and streams after extreme weather events such as prolonged heavy rain.
Severn Trent
A spokesperson said: "The press release issued by Gloucestershire Liberal Democrats is misleading and totally inaccurate. Although Severn Trent don’t own our region’s rivers, we take our role in protecting and caring for them extremely seriously.
"Our rivers are the healthiest they have been since the Industrial Revolution, in fact in the last year alone we have reduced our impact on rivers by 10%.
"We have been consistently recognised as a leading UK water company and awarded the very highest 4 star status by the Environment Agency because of the care we take with our rivers and the environment.
"It appears that Cllr Hodgkinson is referring to the continued use of storm overflows. Storm overflows are used in heavy rain and are made up almost exclusively of rainwater and only account for 3.5% of rivers not achieving good ecological status.
"We are working hard to reduce the use of overflows and we are investing £100million a year to go even further in improving rivers, so that nature can continue to thrive. Indeed, we have publicly committed to fulfil all of our actions set out in the Environment Act to improve river quality in a nine-year timeframe, rather than the 25-year target."
Thames Water
A Thames Water spokesperson said: "Our aim will always be to try and do the right thing for rivers and for the communities who love and value them. By working with local partners we’re actively listening to our customers, who want us to do more.
"Our planned investment in our sewer network, for example in Bourton-on-the-Water and Cirencester, and upgrading sewage treatment works like Fairford and Moreton-in-Marsh, will help improve the situation and we are looking carefully at using nature based solutions to address the challenge ahead.
"It’s our view that discharges of untreated sewage are simply unacceptable, even when they are legally permitted, and we support the measures in the bill that will reduce storm overflows. We’ll work with the government, Ofwat and the Environment Agency to accelerate work to stop untreated discharges being necessary. We have a long way to go – and we certainly can’t do it on our own – but the ambition is clear."
Wessex Water
A Wessex Water spokesperson said: "Wessex Water only has 11 storm overflows within Gloucestershire, which protect properties from flooding during heavy rainfall. These are monitored, and none have been identified as having an adverse impact on river water quality.
"We support ambitions to eliminate any negative impact that could be caused by overflows, but this will only be possible when Government legislation prevents housing developers and property owners connecting surface water to combined sewers, which is increasing the frequency of overflow operations."