But will it really happen ? Improvements to sewage overflows.

[David Craine]

Sewage spills: Water bills set to rise to pay for £10bn upgrade

Water companies apologise for sewage spills in England, but critics say customers should not foot the bill.

www.bbc.co.uk

We will see.I think the response is so much flannel, the water companies are asking us to pay twice for the promosed minor improvements to come , we have already paid them for nothing but their bonuses and dividends to shareholders .

We have paid for poor performance by the water companies for too long , it is a start , but imo too little too late.

I wait with unbaited breath .


David

 

[Damian Kimmins]

Combined sewer overflows are only really a part of the problem.

 

[Graham Tremble]

Awful as the sewerage overflow scandal is I wonder if it is ‘ small beer’ compared to the pesticides and other farm related issues that are killing the aquatic life in our rivers?
G.T.

 

[Mark Swaby]

I Riverfly test and one of my sites is below a massive sewage treatment works. For numbers its probably one of the most prolific sites tested in my catchment which covers a number of rivers. I get usually get over 3000 invertebrates in a 4 minute test. I do not get the rarer stonefly. On a local chalk stream they are lucky to get a couple of hundred but do get a few Stonefly (3 on their last test). Thirty years ago the Colne all down the river had numbers of Stonefly but they are now extinct. Yes when Thames water dump massive amounts they kill massive amounts from my site but it does recover quickly. In Watford 6 miles upstream and above the sewage works the river bed is dead, no invertebrate life is found. Recent tests show 278 chemicals in the area and I am sure these are far more dangerous. The chemicals are in small amounts but what they all do together is the issue. Sadly I can see the bills going up, the share holders getting richer with little improvement unless the main players get sent to prison or get criminal convictions.

 

[Joe Winstanley]

Awful as the sewerage overflow scandal is I wonder if it is ‘ small beer’ compared to the pesticides and other farm related issues that are killing the aquatic life in our rivers?
G.T.

That is probably true in some catchments, but not others. And then you have the issues with all the nasties washing off roads etc.

Saw some discharge data for my local river yesterday for 2022. On average they discharged raw untreated sewage for 5.5 hrs every 14-days. And 2022 was one of the driest years on record.

 

[Ian Murfin]

They seem to have transitioned from "its impossibility expensive to fix our victorian sewage system" to "sorry we'll fix it, you'll have to pay for it though. Don't worry it won't cost much"
Do they think we are daft?