Raw sewage released for more than 1,000 hours into North East Lincolnshire chalk stream in 2023

Raw sewage was released into a chalk stream in North East Lincolnshire for over 1,000 hours in 2023.

The Environment Agency has published data on storm overflow spills last year. Raw sewage was released into Britain’s waterways for more than 3.6 million hours.

Water companies are allowed to release raw sewage directly into waterways when the sewer system is in danger of being overwhelmed. This includes after heavy downpours.

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Severn Trent and Anglian Water are the water companies that operate in northern Lincolnshire. The companies cited the wetter weather last year as a factor in increased discharge levels, but also emphasised the investment each is taking to reduce spills.

Two storm overflows managed by Anglian Water released raw sewage into Laceby Beck on 142 separate occasions, lasting 1,063 hours. The chalk stream runs into the River Freshney. In 2022, there were 105 spills into Laceby Beck, lasting 394.5 hours.

Anglian Water had 31,623 raw sewage spills last year, an average of 22 spills per storm overflow it manages. In northern Lincolnshire, Ulceby sewage treatment works was one of the worst sites for spills, with 98 separate incidents, lasting 1,816 hours, going into Skitter Beck. Two overflows at Grimsby Pyewipe waterworks contributed 267 spills into the Humber, across 1,332 hours.

An Anglian Water spokesperson said: “We are disappointed to see our spill numbers have increased this year. However we are confident that investments we’ve been making to reduce spills have moved the dial in the right direction and spills would have been considerably higher without it.

“It is important to acknowledge the exceptionally wet weather we had late last year, which meant that 70 per cent of our spills were in Q4 alone and in stark comparison to the extremely dry year in 2021, as climate change continues to result in more extreme weather events.”

Earlier in March, Anglian Water announced a £50 million fast-tracked investment to create a ‘spills taskforce’ that will tackle storm spills across our region, funded by our shareholders. This is as well as proposed £1bn investment across its network from 2025.

Anglian Water also state all of its more than 1,400 storm overflows has a plan to reduce spillage. In Lincolnshire, nearly £23m is being invested to reduce spills from water recycling centres, including at Cleethorpes and Louth.

Severn Trent, which covers Scunthorpe, had more than 60,000 monitored spills, an average of 24 for each storm overflow. Its Crowle-Scunthorpe sewage treatment works had 106 spills, lasting 894 hours, into a tributary of Pauper’s Drain. Its Alkborough sewage works released into the River Humber raw sewage 166 times from its two storm overflows, for a total of 743 hours. This was actually down on 2022 comparable figures.

Severn Trent’s region experienced 35 per cent more rain in 2023 than the year before. “These types of extreme weather conditions are likely to become more typical,” said Severn Trent’s chief engineer Bob Stear, “so we’re accelerating investment even quicker to get ahead of such intense periods of rain to reduce the number of spills from storm overflows.”

He said record investment of £384m in 2024/25 and a further £1.1bn planned to deliver, showed its commitment to reduce overflow spills. “We’re essentially re-plumbing the network and rethinking hundreds of years of engineering solutions, so change on this scale can’t happen overnight,” he said. He added there were short and long-term plans for all its overflows, with hundreds of people working on them. The water company is to launch a live map in a few weeks to show people what investment is planned for all storm overflows across the region.

The Rivers Trust CEO Mark Lloyd said: “The latest figures on sewage discharges mean another distressing news day for our rivers and seas. This is just one source of pollution we can identify and rectify – and we must – because this effluent is making our rivers and our people sick.” He called on the government to approve £10.1bn proposed investment by water companies in England over the next five years.

“I have been clear that sewage pollution in our waters is unacceptable,” said Water Minister Robbie Moore. He cited government actions such as a consultation to ban water bosses’ bonuses when criminal breaches have occurred, and a whistleblowing portal for water company workers to report breaches.

Original artice: https://www.grimsbytelegraph.co.uk/all-about/scunthorpe