What a stink!

Fury as Tory MPs block bid to force water firms to cut sewage dumped in rivers

TORY MPs faced criticism yesterday after voting down legal changes that would force water firms to reduce the amount of sewage they dump in rivers.

The decision to vote against an amendment to the Environment Bill in the Commons triggered a backlash on social media.

Campaigners used Twitter to single out politicians – posting a picture of their MP and declaring they had ‘voted to allow untreated sewage to be pumped into rivers and the sea’.

The tweets resulted in sewage being one of the most popular trending topics on the site yesterday. The Government denied it was allowing water companies to continue polluting rivers but stopped short of making it a legal obligation for water companies to reduce sewage overflows.

Such firms discharged raw sewage into rivers 400,000 times, or more than three million hours, in 2020. They are allowed to do this during heavy storms but campaigners claim the practice is being routinely abused.

Rivers campaigner and former punk singer Feargal Sharkey yesterday told BBC Radio 4’s Today that MPs had in effect ‘legalised what was illegal’ by not outlawing sewage overflows.

Today there is another opportunity for MPs to decide on the Environment Bill – after it was defeated in last week’s vote by 265 to 202, with 22 Tories rebelling against the Government. Hugo Tagholm, of campaign group Surfers Against Sewage, said: ‘Why wouldn’t they want water companies to have a legal obligation not to pollute our rivers and ocean with sewage? It beggars belief and hardly shows a commitment to be the greenest government ever.’

A map by the Rivers Trust charity shows the areas worst affected by river sewage last year. It advises against going in the water immediately downstream of these areas, especially after it has been raining.

Pam Ayres posted a poem about the MPs’ vote on Twitter, including the lines: ‘Along the S***creek River... Where sewage oozes down.’

Last night environment minister Rebecca Pow wrote to all Tory MPs explaining the Government’s opposition to the amendment and actions it was taking to ‘provide clarity’.

The Department for Environment responded in an article which said the ‘extreme age’ of Victorian sewerage systems meant it would cost £150billion to achieve ‘total elimination’ of sewage overflows into rivers.

It said: ‘The Government recognises the importance of protecting the nation’s natural environment and we are investing accordingly.’

‘The decision beggars belief’