On Friday Dumping sewage in waterways stinks
I’VE had enough of swimming in raw sewage. And I remain astonished that anyone thinks it’s OK. I’ve been a ‘wild swimmer’ for just over a year. I started in November 2020 when a friend added me into a group that were dipping in the River Dart every day. I’d never considered swimming through winter. I’m only an occasional summer sea swimmer.
And yet I was hooked from day one. The combination of a rush of adrenaline as I slipped into what seemed like freezing waters, the exhilaration that you get from any kind of extreme sport and the relaxation of being immersed in nature, amidst the trees and birds and open skies, is unlike anything else.
For six months I swam almost every day. I didn’t mind if it was six degrees or 16, if it was calm and still or a raging torrent of water. I even swam in torrential rains, when the river had flooded its banks and even ducks were unable to distinguish between waterway and walkway.
But when lockdown ended at the start of April, life got in the way. I still swim – my latest excursion a thrilling moonlit dip at Elberry Cove on the full moon with three friends, hot chocolate and cookies to warm us up after. But I’m not in every day.
And over the past 12 months I’ve become increasingly wary of what’s in the water.
In my swimming group, I’d heard people talk about sewage. I’d had the occasional dip when the river was high and murky brown and it felt prudent not to put my head under water. I knew there was a water treatment works upriver near Buckfastleigh, but I also understood there was regular testing of the water. And, to be honest and to my shame, I preferred not to think about it too much.
But when the sewage hit the fan, as it were, a couple of weeks back, with the Government voting against plans that would have forced water companies to reduce the harm caused by sewage overflows, it brought those murky waters back into stark focus for me.
As the Government debated, it emerged South West Water reported more than 200 pollution incidents in 2020 and 42,000 discharges of sewage into waterways due to heavy rain. It also emerged that just 14% of England’s rivers have been rated as of good ecological status.
Currently, water companies can dump raw sewage into rivers and seas in exceptional weather conditions, such as storms and torrential rain, to prevent the system backing up. But campaigners say they are using the permission as a loophole to routinely dump contaminated water. There have been improvements, but not enough.
My local MP, Anthony Mangnall, was one of the 265 MPs who voted with the government to reject an attempt by the House of Lords to toughen up the approach to the discharge of sewage.
He wasn’t alone. Most Conservative MPs in Devon and Cornwall voted against that proposal. Many cited an “uncosted proposal to ban all storm overflows” in the bill, which they said could have cost billions of pounds and diverted sewage into the streets instead of waterways.
The Government did later perform a U-turn amid mounting pressure – with George Eustice, the environment secretary, later confirming the bill would be strengthened with a government amendment that will see “a duty enshrined in law to ensure water companies secure a progressive reduction in the adverse impacts of discharges from storm overflows”.
Real-time data on sewage overflows is only the beginning. There needs to be a massive investment in the infrastructure around our sewage systems and of course it will cost money – money that many of us feel we’ve already contributed to water companies in our water bills over the years.
The bottom line is that this outdated practice needs to be stopped as soon as possible. I shouldn’t be swimming in sewage, surfers shouldn’t be surfing in discharge and our fish, our birds and our animals should not be suffering this pollution. It stinks.
Over the past 12 months I’ve become increasingly wary of what’s in the water