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| Thu, 24th Nov 2022 10:27:00 |
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Water companies dumping sewage during dry weather, SAS report finds |
Report exposes scale of human waste discharges into UK waters, including potentially illegal ‘dry spills’
Water companies have been releasing sewage on to beaches and in rivers even when it is not raining, according to a report from Surfers Against Sewage.
Sewage spills are only supposed to happen under exceptional circumstances; when it is raining so heavily that the system cannot cope with the amount of water and effluent being spewed at once.
However, there have been anecdotal accounts of local sewage outflows spilling human waste into local waterways even when it is not raining. Now, SAS claims that that these ‘dry spills’ are happening routinely, against regulations which stipulate outflows should only occur during “unusually heavy rainfall”.
Analysing meteorological data from the Met Office as well as spillage data, SAS found that 146 dry spills were detected over a 12-month period, with 95 of these at locations where water quality is classified as “excellent”. Southern Water, the worst offender, was responsible for four times as many dry spills as the next worst offender, South West Water.
Amy Slack, head of campaigns and policy at SAS, said: “Over the last year, the UK public has made clear their disgust at what’s happening to our rivers and seas, and yet water companies continue to pollute at will. It’s especially alarming to uncover evidence of potentially illegal activity by water companies in the form of dry spills, which are not permitted under current regulations. Shareholders and CEOs are unashamedly profiteering off pollution.”
“It’s high time the government stepped up and took real action to curb the destructive and selfish behaviour of the water companies responsible for this literal shit storm.”
According to data from The Environment Agency, sewage has been dumped into the ocean and rivers around the UK more than 770,000 times over the course of 2020 and 2021 – the equivalent of almost 6 million hours.
Sewage in waterways is also making people sick, the report claims.
As part of its water quality report, SAS has also analysed data from 720 sickness reports submitted to its reporting system. The data found that over a third (39%) of sickness cases correlated to sewage discharge alerts, while 63% of cases that were reported to a doctor were attributed to poor water quality.
The most common illness reported after people swam in the sea or rivers was gastroenteritis, with two in three people reporting symptoms associated with the condition. Ear, nose and throat infections were common too, with respiratory, skin and urinary tract infections also reported.
Over half of the sickness reports related to swims at locations classified as “excellent” under the government’s testing regime.
Dr Anne Leonard, an environmental epidemiologist and microbiologist based at the University of Exeter, said: “We’ve known for over 100 years that sewage contains disease-causing microorganisms, and that ingesting water contaminated with this kind of waste causes infections. These infections may be mild, self-limiting illnesses but they can also be really severe infections that require medical treatment.”
Swimmers have reported anger and upset after having to change how they interact with the water following illness.
Read original full article
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