Heavy rainfall during the last week saw billions of litres of sewage spew out of storm overflows onto beaches across the North East.
Six water companies, including Northumbria Water, are currently facing allegations that they have underreported pollution incidents.
This comes after two beautiful beaches in the region were stripped of their prestigious Blue Flag statuses due to a drop in water quality.
During extreme weather, water companies are permitted to use overflow pipes to prevent sewage from coming back into people’s houses and running through the streets.
Campaigns across the country have brought the spotlight firmly onto companies polluting rivers illegally during spells of dry weather.
However, the sheer volume of sewage being legally released last week has seen even more pressure mount on companies to improve the nation’s sewage systems.
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A spokesperson for the Angling Trust, a charity dedicated to improving the environment, described the anger people feel towards shareholders receiving large dividends while sewage is allowed to leak.
They said: “People are rightfully alarmed and angry that water companies continue to pollute our rivers, coasts, and seas.
“And while we see these companies continue to hand themselves a fortune in payments to their shareholders and director, we do not see the same sense of urgency when it comes to them cleaning up their mess.
Read more: Northumbrian Water facing legal action over sewage
“All we are asking is for these companies to stop breaking the law, and for the Environment Agency and the government to do more to prosecute and to stop this assault on our environment and on our health.”
In the last year, two North East beaches have had their Blue Flag awards, recognising their high quality, retracted.
Both Saltburn and South Shields beaches had their statuses removed as the beach quality dropped.
Robert Goodwill, Conservative MP for Scarborough and Whitby and chair of the environment select committee, explained that he believes water bills will have to increase to solve the problem.
He said: “What the water companies have done in Scarborough is build a stone water tank capable of holding up to 4000 tonnes of water during heavy rain.
“In some cases that extra capacity is enough to contain even heavy rainfall.
“It was biblical last week with the amount of rain we were seeing.
“To be absolutely realistic, when there is heavy rain going into our sewers there is not a quick fix.
“I get emails all the time saying ‘sewage is being discharged’ when there it is raining a lot.
“The water companies need to make a case to increase the bills for that investment to take place.
“If we want better water treatment and to build stone water tanks, the bills will have to go up.”
Public concern for the water quality in the North East has slowly been rising, particularly after thousands of marine animals were washed up dead in October 2021.
An investigation was carried out but no firm conclusions were ever reached.
Earlier this month, 57 competitors in the World Triathlon Championship fell ill after swimming in the sea at Sunderland.
Opposition councillors in Sunderland Council are calling for an emergency meeting to get to the bottom of the scandal to confirm if the beaches are safe to swim in.
Read on
Councillors call to address Sunderland triathlon 'scandal'
Sharon Hodgson, MP for Sunderland, described how she was ‘deeply concerned’ by what has been happening along the North East coast.
She said: “I support Labour’s calls to introduce mandatory monitoring of all sewage outlets, give the Environment Agency the power to properly enforce rules, and set a legally binding target to end 90% of sewage discharges by 2030.
“These policies should be enforced with automatic fines for sewage discharges and a standing charge penalty for discharge points without monitoring in place.
“My constituents and I have been deeply concerned by sewage off the North East coast, in particular, the detrimental impact it is having upon wildlife and those who want to enjoy our beautiful coastlines.
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“Failures to improve should be paid for from company dividends, not through customer bills or by reducing investment in the system.
“For too long this Conservative government has turned a blind eye to the serious concerns of charities and passionate individuals who have long opposed this reckless profiteering and disregard for our country’s precious coastlines.”
A spokesperson for Northumbrian Water said:
“At times of heavy rainfall, all water companies use storm overflows as a relieve valve on the sewer network to help protect the homes of customers and the environment from sewer flooding. Such discharges happen with both permission and scrutiny from the Environment Agency.
“During and after these rainfall conditions, storm overflows discharge what is mostly rainwater, mixed with some of the contents of our sewer network, from the area affected.
“We have invested heavily in upgrades to our wastewater network in the last two decades and beyond, and more than £80 million of investment is targeted towards improvements related to storm overflows in our current 2020-25 operating period, with larger investments again planned from 2025 onward.”
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