Hundreds of thousands of raw sewage discharges were recorded last year. These maps show where these were and what the impact is
As the inquiry continues, exclusive data seen by the Guardian reveals how one company, Thames, appears to be dumping raw sewage outside the permitted conditions at two of its sites. Dumping outside these conditions – for example, in dry weather – is a breach of the regulations and the discharges are considered to be illegal.
Knowing how much of what we flush down the toilet actually ends up in rivers and seas is complicated by the fact that publicly available information is scarce. Thames Water is one of the few companies that shares information on spilling events in real-time, through theirAnd the volume of raw sewage released through overflow systems, as far as this is measured, is not published for the majority of them.
Importantly, those numbers cannot be extrapolated to the rest of the country, as it serves about 2.1 million people and is many times larger than most treatment works. One of these conditions is known as the “overflow setting”, which specifies a minimum volume to pass through full treatment while a CSO is in use. Failing to treat the required amount of sewage is known as “early spilling”.
“If these discharges are happening when minimum volumes at treatment works are not being met, or when river levels are low, these pollutants will be even more concentrated in the water, allowing algae to proliferate and meaning plant and animal life won’t have enough oxygen to survive. The current situation is absolutely unacceptable and will get even worse if investment doesn’t go into our grey and green-blue infrastructure.
“Addressing discharges will take time and sustained investment, however each step we take on this journey is a move in the right direction.”
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