Like me you might have thought Cumbria was famous for clean water and clean air. Well, the air might be clean and fresh, but our rivers are not the pristine environments we could hope for and should expect.
River water, untreated sewage and storm overflow made national headlines due to the amazing work of campaigners for Surfers Against Sewage in the autumn of last year. But the impacts in Cumbria didn’t hit the headlines and few people realised the local effect it was having. We were alerted to it by residents in two different villages during our work on the doorsteps.
Water companies require permits to discharge untreated sewage into the local environment, which is allowed under certain “exceptional criteria”. This would normally exceptional quantities of rainwater entering the system, and is allowed in order to prevent the water backing up and flooding homes with raw untreated sewage. However, the system is used so frequently it can no longer be called “exceptional”. Treatment works are regularly overloaded due to not just to rainwater but also increased housebuilding and the water companies not upgrading their infrastructure to keep up with the changes.
On 16th March the Government launched an 8 week consultation on its Nature Green Paper and Environmental Targets bill and Caroline Lucas, Green Party MP pointed out “As sewage continues to pour into our waterways, there’s no target to improve the overall condition of our rivers.”
The Rivers Trust has produced an interactive map on which you can see the number of times and the duration of sewage discharges to our rivers.
If you zoom in and click on the brown circle you can find the data for your village stream or river. The current map shows 2020 figures but is being updated to show the figures for 2021, so checking back in a month or so will mean you can see whether anything has improved. For example in Portinscale Sewage Pumping Station the sewer storm overflow spilled 193 times for a total of 1556 hours, and Plumbland waste water treatment works storm overflow spilled 315 times for a total of 6415 hours.
This matters not just because no-one wants to swim, canoe or paddle in a river polluted with raw sewage but also because it increases the level of nutrients in the water which means a minority of plants and water creatures survive and thrive but many others suffer losses in numbers and variety. If you think you’ve seen less wildlife in your local river, you’re probably right. If you’re seeing lots of weed on the stones, that’s a sign of too high a nutrient level.
Jill spoke to a representative of United Utilities at the Bothel event to inform us of the drinking water pipeline work and the opening of Williamsgate drinking water treatment centre. He held out little hope that our area would be in line for early work to remedy the situation, and was more intent on educating the public to decrease rainwater runoff entering the system.
The Good Law Project has taken up the river pollution case explaining that it’s already very difficult for people to challenge water companies, and years of inaction by the Environment Agency (funding reduced by two thirds since 2010) mean there is little to deter water companies from dumping sewage. United Utilities is trying to make it even harder for people to hold water companies to account. They’ve asked the Court to prevent legal challenges against water companies that dump untreated sewage in our waterways. This case is about the Manchester Ship Canal. But the ramifications of this case could go much further. If United Utilities win, it will mean any water company can dump sewage into waterways in England and Wales without fear of being sued in the civil courts by individuals or groups of people. Good Law Project, alongside four other concerned organisations, are intervening. A hearing has just finished on Thursday 31 March, and the expert-written submissions are being considered by the Court, with a judgement expected before too long.
Of course there are other causes of river pollution too, which is why it’s really important to monitor water quality. Agricultural run-off, chemical and plastic pollution and residues of medicines that humans or animals consume all play a part, and we need well-funded regulators and strong legislation.
Jill Perry
