Record sewage spills in county - Environment Agency

Overflows across the county saw thousands of hours of untreated sewage being let into rivers

A record number of sewage spills into Gloucestershire's rivers and streams by the county's main water providers took place last year, according to the Environment Agency.

Both Severn Trent and Thames Water saw more hours of storm overflows, which they put down partly to the very wet winter.

Campaigners say more money needs to be invested into infrastructure.

Both water companies said they were investing hundreds of millions of pounds into their networks in the coming years.

Some of the worst offenders include a storm overflow on the River Severn, near Frampton, which spilled 206 times in 2023, the equivalent of 161 days of non-stop spilling, statistics from the Environment Agency have revealed.

Elsewhere, the River Coln, near Fairford, saw 141 days of spills and Blockley Brook, near Draycott, saw 147 days of sewage spills.

Spills can contain human waste and sanitary products, which can pose a serious risk to the local wildlife, swimmers and others who use UK waterways.

The UK has combined sewage systems, which mean rain and sewage share the same pipes and, if there is too much rain, sewage treatment works can be overwhelmed. Sewage is then spilled into waterways to prevent the system backing up.

'Extensive Issue'

Ash Smith, founder of Windrush Against Sewage Pollution (Wasp), said: "It's such a long-term and extensive issue," adding more should be invested in the UK sewer network.

"There's a massive illusion over the phrase 'investing' because invariably what they really mean is they are spending bill payers' money that they have decided not to take away as dividends, so we would like to see all the money that we pay go to the infrastructure."

Both Severn Trent and Thames Water, the two main water companies serving Gloucestershire, said they were investing millions of pounds into infrastructure improvements.

A Severn Trent spokesperson said: "We recently announced £270m investment on 102 storm overflows, improving river health in Gloucestershire."

They added that "in 2023, Gloucestershire experienced 33% more rain than in 2022, with the wettest period on record during Storm Babet".

"Severn Trent operations now currently account for 8% of the reasons why rivers in Gloucestershire aren't achieving good ecological status, with 92% attributable to other sectors."

A Thames Water spokesperson said: “Taking action to improve the health of rivers is a key focus for us.

"We are working hard to make these discharges unnecessary and have published plans to upgrade over 250 of our sites, including our Cirencester, Fairford and Ampney St Peter sewage treatment works."

The boss of Thames Water recently said customer bills would need to rise by 40% by 2030 to pay for improvements.

The news came after investors said they would not give the struggling water company more cash unless they increased bills.