Lib Dem leader speaks out on sewage dumping
The leader of the Liberal Democrats, Sir Ed Davey, has called for tighter regulation to stop the pumping of sewage into rivers and seas which he branded ‘a crime against nature’.
The party has released analysis of Environment Agency figures that show water companies dumped sewage into England's chalk streams for 14,162 hours last year.
And there were 2,240 incidents of sewage discharges into chalk streams by five water firms - Anglian Water, Southern Water, Thames Water, Wessex Water and Yorkshire Water.
The party's analysis also states that one in five sewage discharges in chalk streams either had a faulty monitor or no monitor installed.
During a visit to the River Itchen at Shawford, near Winchester, Mr Davey called on the Government to increase regulation.
He said: 'It's quite disgusting that the Conservatives keep allowing these water companies to pump their filthy sewage into our rivers and seas.
'These are very precious chalk streams and it's a crime against nature.
'Some people have thought they are almost like Britain's rainforests because they are so precious in the biodiversity they represent.
'Yet this Government is allowing water companies to pump sewage into these precious rivers and they are not allowing them to be monitored properly.
'One in five monitors of sewage dumping into chalk streams across our great country are not working or aren't even present, that's a scandal.'
'These companies are making huge profits and they are not being regulated to put those profits back into investing to sort out that problem. ' The worst chalk stream sewage discharge lasted a staggering 2,969 hours in the River Till, a tributary of the Hampshire Avon in Wiltshire by Wessex Water, a designated Site of Special Scientific Interest.
Southern Water discharged sewage 62 times in the River Meon last year, lasting over 1,000 hours.
The Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs was approached for comment.