Sewage has been dumped hundreds of times into the River Tyne in Newcastle, according to shocking data that has outraged city MP Chi Onwurah.
A total of 540 sewage dumps were made in waterways across central Newcastle in 2021, with the most heavily affected area being the River Tyne. The findings come from the website ' Top of the Poops', which has compiled Environment Agency data to highlight the extent of sewage being dumped in constituencies across the UK.
The data, which says the sewage has been dumped over 1,876 hours, has appalled Newcastle Central MP Ms Onwurah who has slammed the Government for "allowing water companies to pump sewage into the North East’s waters."
"It is absolutely unacceptable that the Government has allowed Northumbrian Water to average a sewage spill every 23 minutes into our beautiful coastline and rivers," Ms Onwurah said.
"My constituents in Newcastle are trying to enjoy the summertime, all whilst the Tories have allowed water companies to cut corners and pump filthy raw sewage into the North East’s waters. I regularly swim in the North Sea and know just how distressing the idea of swimming in sewage is for my constituents!
"Labour will end this disgraceful practice by ensuring there can be enforcement of unlimited fines, holding water company bosses legally and financially accountable for their negligence, and by toughening up regulations that currently allow the system to be abused."
The findings come amid growing public outrage in recent years at the volume of raw or partially treated sewage pumped into the UK’s rivers and coastal waters. Data from the campaign group Surfers Against Sewage (SAS) showed there were 654 alerts of sewer overflows spilling sewage into bathing waters so far this summer, from 171 locations in England and Wales.
Most of the UK has a combined sewage system that is designed to occasionally discharge untreated sewage into rivers and the sea to prevent homes and public spaces from being flooded after heavy rains.
However, Water Minister Steve Double said water companies’ reliance on sewage overflows is unacceptable and said that work is being carried out to tackle the issue.
“We are the first Government to take action to tackle sewage overflows," he said.
"We have been clear that water companies’ reliance on overflows is unacceptable and they must significantly reduce how much sewage they discharge as a priority. This is on top of ambitious action we have already taken including consulting on targets to improve water quality which will act as a powerful tool to deliver cleaner water, pushing all water companies to go further and faster to fix overflows.
“Work on tackling sewage overflows continues at pace and we will publish our plan in line with the September 1 statutory deadline.”
Northumbrian Water acknowledged "historic shortcomings in the system" and said progress is being made to cut pollution such as monitoring an improving its overflows.
A Northumbrian Water spokesman said: "We all share the same ambition for healthy, thriving rivers, lakes and seas. This is an incredibly important topic for us, our customers and our communities.
“While it is important to recognise there are historic shortcomings in the system and increased expectations on river health and water quality generally, we are committed to playing our part in improving our region’s rivers and seas by working with our partners, including through our industry-leading partnership with The Rivers Trust to create the North East Catchments Hub, and with our regulators the Environment Agency. Thirty two of our region’s 34 Bathing Water meet Defra’s top two standards, which is a really positive indicator of the water quality along our beaches.
“Real progress is being made in improving monitoring, cutting pollutions and increasing transparency. In recent years, we have rolled out a programme of installing monitors, with 99% of our overflows now covered, and we are on track to reach 100% well in advance of the regulatory deadline in December 2023. This increase in monitoring has helped ensure those who enjoy using our water are better informed than ever before, and we are also working towards making this data near real-time in 2023.
“We have also invested heavily in upgrades to our wastewater network in the last two decades and beyond, which have played an important part in these results, and we continue to do so. More than £80 million of investment is targeted towards improvements related to storm overflows in our current 2020-25 operating period.
“It is important to note, however, that many things affect river water quality, our operations being only a part of that, alongside factors such as highways and farming.
“We share the passion of our customers and communities to make sure we can all enjoy a healthy natural environment. We are committed to work constantly to protect and enhance coasts, rivers and watercourses in all areas of our operation. We have proactively published a number of industry leading pledges to generate further improvements in this area.”
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