Britain: “one of the most effluent nations in the world” as Dr Louise Raw put it when she tweeted this image.

I just found this on Twitter:

The BBC seems to agree:

Two weeks before voters in parts of England and in Northern Ireland go to the polls to choose new councillors, those in office are swimming against a tide of public anger at water companies dumping untreated, raw sewage.

Most waste water travels to sewage works to be treated but under “exceptional circumstances”, companies are allowed to pump the excess into the sea and rivers to prevent homes and roads being flooded with it.

However, EA figures show this is not occasional. Last year, sewage was pumped into England’s waterways for a total of 1.75 million hours – 825 times a day on average.

Conservative MPs and Tory-run councils in rural and coastal communities have felt the ire of people who have encountered evidence of sewage while out with their children, walking their dogs, or swimming.

Beaches by holiday resorts have repeatedly been contaminated and last September, people were advised not to swim at six beaches in Sussex when sewage was released into the sea.

Anger has also been stoked on social media since left-wing site EvolvePolitics listed 265 Conservative MPs who voted “to allow” water companies to carry on dumping sewage – blocking a Labour amendment to the Environment Bill which would have placed a legal duty on firms to phase out the practice.

These days, storm overflow and sewage figures are perhaps as closely watched as GDP and NHS waiting lists at the headquarters of the UK’s political parties – and the issue looks set to roll on into the next general election campaign.

Very well, then. I shall continue publishing articles about it that highlight what’s going on.

Here’s something you should know, for example:

There’s more:

There will be more – much more – sewage to follow.

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