Sewage pours into conservation sites including Lake District for 300,000 hours

31 July 2023 , 20:12

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Windermere in the Lake District (Image: Getty Images)

Raw sewage poured into wildlife conservation sites for more than 300,000 hours last year.

Greenpeace found precious habitats heavily hit by spills include the Lake District and Wales’ Brecon Beacons. Its investigative unit Unearthed said 1,193 sewage overflows discharged within 50m of a protected areas last year, lasting 305,963 hours.

Parts of the Lake District received more than 6,600 hours of sewage. It is the constituency of Trudy Harrison, DEFRA Minister for Natural Environment and Land Use. More than 125,000 hours of sewage was released in the Brecon Beacons, while over 14,000 hours was spilled along the Solent and Dorset coastlines.

Locals in Morecambe Bay, which received almost 15,000 hours of sewage, reported swimming in faeces last year. Feargal Sharkey, Undertones rock star turned high-profile sewage campaigner, said it had revealed “yet more of the ugly underbelly and corrupt systems of governance we have in this country”.

Megan Corton Scott, Political Campaigner for Greenpeace UK, said: “These are the casualty figures from a war which nature is losing, badly. Private water companies treat our countryside as a toilet, and their vandalism doesn’t stop at some of our most sensitive conservation areas. Beloved lakes, beaches and rivers, rare wildlife habitats, sites of special scientific interest are being sacrificed so water company bosses and shareholders can continue to reap huge profits.

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Environment campaigner Feargal Sharkey (DAILY RECORD)

“The idea that the sewage industry could be shamed into doing the right thing has been tried and failed - nothing matters to them except profit. The only way to force them to clear up their mess is to make all of their dividends and bonuses dependent on actual results. Instead of long-term targets and empty threats, ministers should actually force the water companies to do the job we pay them for, starting now.”

An Environment Agency spokesperson insisted the regulator was “unequivocal that polluting our rivers is unacceptable”. “While we have seen a culture shift from the water industry in recent months, this needs to lead to a prolonged change in how they operate and treat the water environment,” they told Unearthed. “We continue to play our role by driving up monitoring and transparency to ensure the public can see what is going on.”

A spokesperson for industry trade association Water UK said: “Water and sewerage companies have been too slow to tackle spills from overflows and have a plan to put it right.” The industry was spending £10bn over seven years on improving sewage overflows as part of the “biggest modernisation of sewers since the Victorian era". “Chalk streams, and other sensitive sites, will be prioritised as part of this investment,” they added.

A spokesperson for Thames Water said the company regarded “all discharges of untreated sewage as unacceptable,” and it was “understandable why the public are demanding more from water companies to do better.” A spokesperson for United Utilities said: “With the largest combined sewer network in the UK and highest levels of rainfall we are planning the biggest programme of storm overflow reduction in the country. By 2030 we will have invested £3 billion tackling the issue, with more to follow.”

Nada Farhoud