Bedford campaigners join paddle-out in sewage protest

Children's TV presenter and "passionate surfer" Naomi Wilkinson joined the protest at the River Great Ouse in Bedford

Campaigners have taken to the river to protest against water companies discharging sewage into waterways.

The activists held a paddle-out on the River Great Ouse in Bedford as part of a UK-wide Surfers Against Sewage protest.

Campaigner and TV presenter Naomi Wilkinson said: "Today we want to end sewage pollution."

An Anglian Water spokesman said "we agree that there's more to be done" and "we need to take action faster".

It was one of 12 being held around the UK

Children's TV presenter Ms Wilkinson, who has also appeared on BBC Countryfile, said she "didn't want to be swimming alongside sewage".

"We want to have a safe ecosystem, we want healthy oceans - and we want healthy humans who can enjoy the sea without being at risk of picking up some horrible disease," she said.

• Water company fined £2.65m after sewage discharge

• Swimmers bid for bathing status after falling sick

• Giant poo emoji models floated along river

Surfers Against Sewage organised demonstrations at 12 bathing spots, led by paddle-boarders, kayakers and swimmers.

The charity is calling for bathing spots to be protected from discharges and a 90% reduction in sewage discharges by 2030.

It alleges that mismanagement by water companies led to 301,091 sewage discharges in 2022.

Southend Against Sewage organised a walkout along the Essex town's seafront in support of the Surfers against Sewage action

An Anglian Water spokesman said: "This week we announced our proposals for £1bn-worth of investment from 2025 directly targeted at dealing with storm overflows - three times more than ever before.

"We are on track to deliver all of the environmental improvements we agreed between 2020 and 2025, including spending more than £200m to reduce storm spills across the east of England.

"Last year our investments of £52m in storm overflow improvements helped us to reduce our spills by over 50%, and we plan to go even further in the coming year. "

Earlier this week, the industry trade body Water UK announced a £10bn plan to reduce the number of sewage discharges into rivers and seas, while apologising for the pollution and warning that bills would rise to cover the costs.