The Sewage Scandal
Over the past few days there has been a great deal of talk about sewage being released into the sea. The scandal has led to increased caution around certain beaches like Weston-super-Mare and a wider debate about how we deal with sewage in England and Wales.
There is also a legal aspect to this scandal as well. Last year there was a vote in the House of Commons on an amendment to the Environment Bill proposed by the Duke of Wellington in the House of Lords.
That amendment would have placed a duty on water companies to take all reasonable steps to ensure that untreated sewage is not discharged from storm overflows but it was voted down by 256 votes to 202.
Now, as the recent hot temperatures mean that the dry ground cannot absorb water, this issue has become a hot topic once again. People have taken to Twitter to name and shame their local MPs.
The government is due some criticism for this decision as well as for its approach to the environment in general but it is also important to try and be accurate when reporting the facts.
The debate is mainly about storm overflows and these operate in the way that the name suggests. While most water that goes down the drain (whether from your toilet, the kitchen, or outside) ends up at the treatment plant, if the volume of sewage is too much then the storm drains will send the rest out to sea or elsewhere.
In that sense it is perhaps not quite right to say that this is raw sewage and indeed Southern Water have claimed that what comes out of the overflows is “95-97%” rainwater. However that is also a misrepresentation. If someone gave you a glass of water and said that it contained only 3% raw sewage then you would certainly not drink it and that is the reason warnings have been issued to beachgoers.
It is also important to clarify that this is not a new problem either and so it should not be blamed entirely on this government.
The reason that we have storm overflows and why our system operates in this way is because the infrastructure dates back to Victorian times and is struggling to remain fit for purpose. That will only become further apparent as climate change puts more pressure on the design and capacity.