Tag Archives: dump

What’s the big local election issue? It’s all a load of sewage

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:

I firmly believe that the dumping of raw sewage into Britain's waterways and seas is a bigger election issue than the polls currently indicate and could sink the Tories.

— Samuel Miller (@Hephaestus7) April 23, 2023

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:

Wessex Water bosses get bonuses for "enhancing the environment"

In last 3 years spent 518,250 hours dumping sewage in the enviro. Leak 61.4Ml/d from their pipes and EA estimate they over abstract local talk streams by about 56Ml/d. Some enhancement.https://t.co/OuwRCb2HvD

— Feargal Sharkey (@Feargal_Sharkey) April 23, 2023

There’s more:

Dear @stwater in the attached article you claim that "Severn Trent currently accounts for 16 per cent of reasons rivers in the Midlands not achieving good ecological status".

Please provide me with a copy of the data upon which that claim is based.https://t.co/wYt0pTiQ3i

— Feargal Sharkey (@Feargal_Sharkey) April 24, 2023

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

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Is Labour showing a shadow of intelligence over sewage?

This is happening more than 800 times a day: the routine dumping of raw sewage into rivers and the sea cannot be allowed to continue – but will the Tories be sunk, whether they support the Labour plan to stop it or not?

Take a look at this, courtesy of Feargal Sharkey:

Labour plan to introduce a sewage bill in parliament on Tuesday "that would implement legally binding targets to reduce sewage dumping, and impose automatic fines".https://t.co/l0AG428RJk

— Feargal Sharkey (@Feargal_Sharkey) April 23, 2023

It seems Labour wants to introduce a Parliamentary Bill to implement legally-binding targets to reduce sewage dumping on Tuesday (April 25). But that’s not the clever bit!

If the Tories block this Bill, it seems Labour will then launch a series of attack adverts – in advance of the local elections – asserting that the Tories think “it’s right” to allow raw sewage to be pumped into our rivers and beaches more than 800 times a day.

This is quite shrewd from the Labour Party.

If the Tories don’t support the Bill, they sabotage their own local election chances.

If they do support it, they impose strictures on private business, which is against their neoliberal ideology.

Not only that, but the new rules would probably be ignored and go unregulated, making the Tories look weak. And this could sabotage their chances at a general election.

It really is rather clever.

So clever that I doubt Keir Starmer or any of his minister dreamed it up. I wonder who did?

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Most of us want water bosses to face prison for pollution – apart from the regulator

Water: people supported the privatisation because they were told private enterprise would invest in system improvements while making bills cheaper. How much more gullible could they have been?

Here’s a double-whammy:

Most people believe that jail sentences are a fitting punishment for water bosses when their companies are responsible for major pollution spills in our rivers, waterways and shores. The strength of public feeling is revealed by an exclusive YouGov poll commissioned by Good Law Project.

The polling of 2,112 people across Great Britain has revealed that:

60% of respondents believe that the chief executives of water companies should receive prison sentences if they are found to be responsible for serious incidents of water pollution. Only 21% disagree.

82% have heard something about sewage discharges from media coverage about the issue.

53% blame the water companies for sewage discharges into our rivers and seas.

People have had enough. This disgraceful situation needs to be brought to an end urgently.

It follows – doesn’t it? – that the privatisation of the UK’s water supply has been nothing but a horrifying failure and an ecological disaster.

And how do the water firms respond to calls for them to act?

Like this:

Water firms are making ‘a mockery’ of efforts to link executive pay to environmental performance by refusing to measure how much raw sewage is spewing into rivers and seas, experts say.

Industry regulator Ofwat wants private water companies to align bosses’ bonuses to pollution targets.

But companies do not monitor the amount of sewage being dumped into waterways.

Instead, they collect data on when the spills occur and how long they last.

Campaigners say weak regulators and budget cuts have allowed water companies to get away with a decades-long lack of investment in the Victorian-era sewage network.

And while firms monitor when spills happen and how long they last as part of a range of performance indicators used to set executive bonuses, none of the water companies contacted by the Mail said they monitored the amount of sewage being dumped into waterways.

Bonuses can run into hundreds of thousands of pounds.

United Utilities, the monopoly water supplier to 7m customers in north-west England … was responsible for 40 per cent of all spills last year.

Its chief executive Steven Mogford received a £727,000 bonus last year as part of his £3.2million pay packet.

United has a £230 million investment at 15 of its 575 treatment work sites to reduce spillages ‘by more than 10m tons a year – the equivalent of 4,000 Olympic-sized swimming pools’, a spokesman for the firm said.

If United has a reliable model to measure volume then, as an environmental campaigner asked in the article,

“Why not share it with the public and the wider industry?”

And what of the regulator?

Ofwat confirmed that so-called ‘event duration monitors’ that companies are installing only measure the number of spills and their duration, not volume.

It has also drawn up plans to block dividend payments – which have totalled an estimated £66billion since privatisation three decades ago – telling boards to ‘take account’ of environmental and customer performance when deciding payouts.

But it has only fined only one company – Southern Water – since sewage spill rules were introduced in 1994.

So: a toothless regulator means privatised, profit-driven water firms have no incentive to invest in improvements to their archaic system, or to stop filling our waterways with untreated sewage.

And they’ll make us pay through the nose for this “service” so they can pay themselves a fortune each year.

Did you vote for this?

And, more to the point:

Would you vote for a political party that would put a stop to it?

Source: Exclusive YouGov Poll: Nearly two-thirds believe water company bosses should face prison over serious incidents of pollution – Good Law Project

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Environment Secretary Therese Coffey lives on Sh*t Creek. Poetic justice?

Therese Coffey (right): was this shot taken after she had a snifter of water from the creek outside her house? Let’s hope not…

Activists have renamed a river on Environment Secretary Therese Coffey’s doorstep “Sh*t Creek” after it was found to be riddled with e.coli.

She lives on Martlesham Creek, which feeds Suffolk’s River Deben, and which contains 50mg of e.coli per litre of water – five times the Government safe swimming level of 10mg.

In dangerously high volumes, the bug can cause an infection linked to kidney failure and prove fatal.

There’s more:

It has also emerged the Environment Agency found 894.13 nanograms of cancer-causing PFA chemicals per litre in a spring near Mrs Coffey’s Suffolk home.

Anything over 100ng per litre needs immediate action, according to the government’s Drinking Water Inspectorate.

Coffey has been accused of failing to stop the dumping of sewage into waterways, which happened 300,000 times last year.

So activists have put up a plaque stating: “Therese Coffey MP – voted to block a law requiring water companies to dump less raw sewage in our waterways and seas.”

So it seems the poem Pam Ayres wrote to commemorate the Tory government’s decision to allow the dumping of untreated sewage into rivers is entirely appropriate:

Now all the life is dying
And turning up its feet
Along the Sh*tcreek River
Where vapours ain’t so sweet
Where water ain’t so crystal clear
Where sewage oozes down
Along the Sh*tcreek River
As the banks turn brown!

In fairness:

Anglian Water is apparently working to assess water quality in the area and has pledged to make sure its operations are not responsible for poor river health.

It is working with swimming groups to support plans for inland bathing.

Well, let’s hope those plans come to fruition after the brook is cleaned up.

Source: Green campaigners warn river on Therese Coffey’s doorstep riddled with deadly bacteria – Mirror Online

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Would Sally-Ann Hart have taken a swim at the beach she was booed on?

Sally-Ann Hart: covering her posterior during the sewage crisis?

Here’s another great analysis from Maximilien Robespierre – this time on the way Tories who were elected to Parliament in 2019 are trying to cover their rear ends after voting to allow water companies to pollute our rivers, seas and beaches:

So: she said she voted for an amendment to Labour’s motion, that demanded investment in the sewerage infrastructure that would end the discharge of raw sewage into the environment.

But the amendment was changed to remove a requirement for water companies (in England) to take every reasonable step to ensure untreated sewage is not released from storm overflows. Also removed was the requirement to show improvements in the sewerage systems.

So her claim that she voted to demand improvements seems to be untrue. But, like many of her fellows in the Tory 2019 Parliamentary intake, she’s trying to put people off voting to remove her from her seat by pretending to be on their side.

She says an “ambitious” plan will be unveiled on September 1, to clean up the system. Will it be as ambitious as the plan she has already supported – that allowed water companies to stink up our beaches with possibly disease-ridden crap?

This Writer agrees with Maximilien Robespierre: Ms Hart should have been challenged to take a swim in the water she voted to despoil – to prove she had defended it, or demonstrate conclusively that she had not.

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Is this the reason our rivers and beaches are overflowing with sewage? [VIDEO]

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

An informative video clip from the Express? Will wonders never cease?

The big question is why nothing is being done about this.

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Polio is back – because privatised water firms were allowed to dump untreated sewage?

Rivers of Sh*t: Boris Johnson couldn’t be bothered to think about the details of his Brexit, and now the UK is suffering shortages of materials including those used to clean sewage. So partially-cleaned and harmful crap is going directly into our rivers – including faeces containing the polio virus, that could paralyse people who have not been vaccinated against it.

It’s true – a disease that we thought we had eradicated is back, due to Tory short-sightedness:

Polio is back in the UK. That's just another reason why privatised water companies should not be allowed to dump faeces in rivers.

— David__Osland (@David__Osland) August 11, 2022

Here‘s a government press release on what has happened:

The UK Heath Security Agency (UKHSA), working with the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA), has found poliovirus in sewage samples collected from the London Beckton Sewage Treatment Works.

As part of routine surveillance, it is normal for one to three ‘vaccine-like’ polioviruses to be detected each year in UK sewage samples but these have always been one-off findings that were not detected again. These previous detections occurred when an individual vaccinated overseas with the live oral polio vaccine (OPV) returned or travelled to the UK and briefly ‘shed’ traces of the vaccine-like poliovirus in their faeces.

Investigations are underway after several closely-related viruses were found in sewage samples taken between February and May. The virus has continued to evolve and is now classified as a ‘vaccine-derived’ poliovirus type 2 (VDPV2), which on rare occasions can cause serious illness, such as paralysis, in people who are not fully vaccinated.

The detection of a VDPV2 suggests it is likely there has been some spread between closely-linked individuals in North and East London and that they are now shedding the type 2 poliovirus strain in their faeces. The virus has only been detected in sewage samples and no associated cases of paralysis have been reported – but investigations will aim to establish if any community transmission is occurring.

The last case of wild polio contracted in the UK was confirmed in 1984. The UK was declared polio-free in 2003.

Dr Vanessa Saliba, Consultant Epidemiologist at UKHSA said:

Vaccine-derived poliovirus is rare and the risk to the public overall is extremely low.

Vaccine-derived poliovirus has the potential to spread, particularly in communities where vaccine uptake is lower. On rare occasions it can cause paralysis in people who are not fully vaccinated so if you or your child are not up to date with your polio vaccinations it’s important you contact your GP to catch up or if unsure check your Red Book. Most of the UK population will be protected from vaccination in childhood, but in some communities with low vaccine coverage, individuals may remain at risk.

We are urgently investigating to better understand the extent of this transmission and the NHS has been asked to swiftly report any suspected cases to the UKHSA, though no cases have been reported or confirmed so far.

Jane Clegg, Chief nurse for the NHS in London said:

The majority of Londoners are fully protected against Polio and won’t need to take any further action, but the NHS will begin reaching out to parents of children aged under 5 in London who are not up to date with their Polio vaccinations to invite them to get protected.

Meanwhile, parents can also check their child’s vaccination status in their Red Book and people should contact their GP surgery to book a vaccination, should they or their child not be fully up to date.

The UK is considered by the World Health Organization to be polio-free, with low-risk for polio transmission due to the high level of vaccine coverage across the population. However, vaccine coverage for childhood vaccines has decreased nationally and especially in parts of London over the past few years, so UKHSA is urging people to check they are up to date with their vaccines.

Wastewater surveillance is being expanded to assess the extent of transmission and identify local areas for targeted action. Healthcare professionals have been alerted to these findings so they can promptly investigate and report anyone presenting with symptoms that could be polio, such as paralysis.

So it’s in the sewage and, because some people have decided not to vaccinate their children (based on a falsehood, as I understand it), there’s a risk that someone may catch polio and be paralysed.

And there are concerns that it may spread – or may have spread already. Well, with untreated sewage going directly into the rivers, it’s entirely possible, isn’t it?

Another brilliant Tory idea to cope with the consequences of their brilliant Brexit causes trouble.

ADDITIONAL: This is worrying:

Another irony being that there are now plans to draw water from these rivers to compensate for the reservoir water shortage.

— Matt Lynch (@Mathew_Lynch44) August 12, 2022

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Sign the petition to make water companies pay YOU if they dump untreated sewage

State-approved sewage: but if the water companies are dumping untreated sewage, then they’re not fulfilling their contract with their clients – the public – and they owe us a refund.

Here’s a very good point:

We pay for the water company to take away surface-foul water to be treated at local sewage works.

This amounts to around 45-50% of our annual bill.

If the companies dump that waste water into the river or sea, without treatment, they are ripping us off.

Water companies have dumped sewage into rivers or the sea for years. Even in the height of summer during periods of low rainfall.

It is more profitable for them to occasionally sluice the sewage, when they think they can get away with it, rather than treating it.

If they were not just fined for any illegal dumping but forced to refund for treatment they haven’t done, it may make them a little more hesitant to carry on this disgusting practice.

That is the object of a new petition on the UK Parliament website: as water companies aren’t treating sewage – despite being contractually obliged to do so – then they owe their clients a hefty refund.

This is something that seems to have passed by the Tory government when it offered the privatised water companies a free pass from treating sewage on the grounds that they couldn’t get the chemicals from the European Union.

But the logic is clear. If they’re not buying and using the chemicals, then they don’t need the half of our water bills that is supposed to pay for it.

And the UK’s Tory government should make sure we get our money back. Right?

If you agree, sign the petition.

You can find it here: Require Water Companies to Refund Customers When They Dump Sewage – Petitions

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Whitstable’s people are refusing to pay water bills over sewage crisis – will you?

Protest: people in Whitstable demonstrated against Southern Water’s pollution of the coastline in October.

How wonderful to see the exercise of people power!

Residents of Whitstable, in Kent, are refusing to pay their water bills until the local privatised water company stops discharging sewage into the sea.

It seems they have a very good reason to withhold their cash, as Kent Online has reported claims that people had become ill after swimming in nearby coastal waters.

Local councillor Ashley Clark explained his reasons for holding back the cash in a letter to the company dumping the sewage, Southern Water. He wrote:

Southern Water has continued to send my untreated sewerage – along with that of other local people – directly into the sea which I use on a daily basis to swim from April to October.

I find the thought of swimming in a mixture of local sewerage and seawater totally abhorrent and not something that I should be charged for.

If I paid someone to clear out my garage and take rubbish away to the tip but instead they fly-tipped it into the countryside I would be upset. Canterbury City Council prosecutes offenders for that type of activity.

Yet Southern Water continues to fly-tip sewage into my bathing water with impunity and spend my contributions on both director’s bonus payments and shareholder dividends rather than treating sewerage which hitherto I have paid for.

Accordingly, I will not be paying the £158.63 claimed by Southern Water until such time as I am satisfied that all my payment is being used for the intended purpose and I am compensated for the days on which I was advised not to swim in the sea.

Others have reported their own reasons for withholding payment.

Water companies cannot cut off residents’ water supply if they do not receive payment – they are legally prohibited from doing so, although they can take payment defaulters to court for payment.

But they may find the courts unsympathetic at the moment, because water firms are legally required not to dump untreated sewage in the UK’s waterways and on the coasts. People are justified in their anger – and they’re not saying they’ll never pay their bills.

It seems a good tactic – possibly the best, as it hits the water firms where they are most likely to pay attention: the bank account.

So the operative question is this: are you willing to do the same?

Source: Whitstable residents refuse to pay Southern Water bills until discharging sewage into sea ends

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‘If Johnson refuses to save our bacon, farmers should dump pig carcasses outside Number 10’

Pigs in peril: yes, I’m using the same image as before – of a pig that looks like Boris Johnson. It’s to establish a ‘running theme’ between stories on this topic.

A shortage of butchers and abattoir workers caused by Brexit means 4,500 pigs are likely to be culled within days – and the government isn’t even talking to farmers.

It seems the government is not only failing to help the UK’s livestock farmers; it is refusing to help them.

Prime Minister Boris Johnson’s only reaction to the crisis was a poor taste comment last week that the pigs would have become “bacon sandwiches” anyway – stupidly missing the point that they’re not going to become any kind of foodstuff at all.

Meanwhile, it seems his government is failing to help the UK farming industry – which faces implosion – while signing trade deals with foreign countries for substandard food.

It seems this is the true meaning behind the Brexit slogan about “Taking back control”: destroying the UK farming industry and buying bad food from abroad.

For a snapshot of the situation, watch this BBC interview with a pig farmer – and take note of the comment on Twitter that this is someone who campaigned for Brexit . Undoubtedly this person is now regretting turning a blind eye to Johnson’s lies:

Watch this video.. and then understand that Kate Morgan did not just vote for Brexit, she campaigned for it. And she told others to ‘get over it.’ https://t.co/FRUZNQD2g1

— Joris Zwart (@joriszwart) October 9, 2021

Personally, I like Sam Brook’s suggestion of how farmers should deal with this issue:

You know that French farmers would be dumping those pig carcasses outside number 10.

— Sam Brook 🇪🇺🏳️‍🌈✊🏿🐱☕ (@SlothBracelet) October 10, 2021

It really is the only way to bring the situation home to Boris Johnson: dump it on his doorstep. Do any of our farmers have the guts to do it?

UPDATE October 12, 2021: Minutes after this story went up, a Facebook commenter wrote: “Don’t do that – we know what those Tory boys do with dead pigs.”

Have YOU donated to my crowdfunding appeal, raising funds to fight false libel claims by TV celebrities who should know better? These court cases cost a lot of money so every penny will help ensure that wealth doesn’t beat justice.

https://www.crowdjustice.com/case/mike-sivier-libel-fight/

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