'Stop Sewage Dumping Now'– say Medway Liberal Democrats

The sewage scandal has been one of the biggest issues of the past 18 months. Wanting clean rivers and beaches is an issue that really resonates with people in Medway. In 2021 alone there were over recorded 466,000 sewage overspills into UK rivers - constituting almost 3.5 million hours of sewage discharge into our rivers. Recent studies by the River's Trust have found that only 14% of UK rivers are in good ecological health, and none are in good overall health.

Despite these failures English and Welsh water companies have reported enormous profits. In 2020/21 English water companies alone posted profits of over £2.8 billion.

Liberal Democrats are demanding urgent action to stop sewage dumping in local rivers and streams in across Medway. Recent research published by the Rivers Trust has found there were 1007 sewage spills in Medway in 2021 - which totalled 187 hours of sewage flowing into our rivers and waterways. Information from the Rivers Trust on sewage spills in Medway can be found here: https://theriverstrust.org/sewage-map

Local Lib Dem campaigner and Rainham North candidate Stuart Bourne said; "It is a scandal that tonnes of sewage is still being spilt into our rivers. This should not be happening in the UK in this day and age. It is damaging to the ecosystems and to people's enjoyment of our local area. Even worse this increase in sewage dumping comes at the same time that Southern Water Company has posted profits of £138 million.

The Conservatives continue to let water companies get away with it and even voted against tougher restrictions that will essentially allow sewage dumping to continue until 2050. Enough is enough. The Lib Dems are calling for urgent action to stop the sewage scandal now by introducing a sewage tax and a new independent regulator with powers to issue unlimited fines."

The Lib Dems are calling for major reform to tackle sewage dumps which include:

• Abolishing OFWAT (the water regulator for England and Wales) and replacing it with an Independent Regulator with significant powers to stop sewage discharges into rivers and beaches - including the power to issue unlimited fines.

• Make water companies re-invest profits into improving sewage systems and fixing leaks.

The sewage scandal is not going away. Water companies continue to dump millions of hours-worth of untreated sewage into our waters each year. The Conservative Government continues to sit back and take no action. Medway Lib Dems are joining this fight to make sure our local rivers will be fresh and clean in the future.

ENDS

Notes to Editor

Information from the Rivers Trust on sewage spills in Medway can be found here: https://theriverstrust.org/sewage-map

Information from Company House on the profits made by Southern Water can be found in attached Excel document.

How is data on sewage spills collected?

The data on our Sewage Map is called Event Duration Monitoring (EDM) data. EDM data is collected using water level sensors. These sensors detect releases at designated points in the sewer network which allow untreated sewage to overflow directly into the environment. The sensors send a signal when untreated sewage and storm water starts to overflow, and again when it stops. These start and finish times are used to calculate the duration of the overflow event.