An oyster farmer who runs a 300-year-old family firm says sewage dumps by water firms could kill his business overnight.
Tom Haward, who is the eighth generation of his family to farm oysters off Mersea Island in Essex, is joining a legal challenge against the government over its failure to tackle human waste pouring into our rivers.
Over 1,600 storm overflow pipes near supposedly protected waters spat out untreated sewage 41,068 times last year, for a total of 263,654 hours. The areas affected averaged a whopping 48 spills each in just a year.
Mr Haward told the Mirror: “We rely on the water to sell food to the public. This isn’t just about our family business for 300 years. This is about safety, and the future of communities like ours. My girl is nearly two - she might be the last generation to be an oyster farmer if this isn’t tackled”.
While the Essex oysterman’s beds are “quite protected” from pollution, Mr Haward is worried that a serious leak could “wipe us out”.
“If the companies aren’t held to account, it could happen. We need to stop it before it becomes a major problem,” he said.
Last October, the Tories voted against changes from the Lords to the Environment Bill that would have put strict legal duties on water firms to reduce sewage discharges.
The government instead passed a far-weaker amendment that told water companies to simply come up with a plan to reduce spills.
The Marine Conservation Society has also joined the legal case against the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra) to “protect English seas from sewage dumping”.
They want the government to rewrite its heavily-criticised storm overflow plan, and impose tighter deadlines on water companies to clean up their act.
Sandy Luk, chief executive of the Marine Conservation Society (MCS), said: “Untreated sewage is being pumped into our seas for hundreds of thousands of hours each year, putting people, planet and wildlife at risk.
“We’ve tried tirelessly to influence the UK Government on what needs to be done, but their Plan to address this deluge of pollution entering our seas is still unacceptable.
She added: “We owe it to our coastal communities to act…We’re out of options. Our seas deserve better”.
Launched and funded by the Good Law Project, the Marine Conservation Society will stand as co-claimants on the case with Richard Haward’s Oysters, and surfer and activist, Hugo Tagholm.
Good Law Project's legal director Emma Dearlaney told the Mirror: “To safeguard their industry for future generations, Richard Haward’s Oysters needs action to be taken on this now. But the Government’s current plan to tackle sewage discharges from storm overflows gives water companies a final deadline of 2050 to get a grip on this issue."
She added: “Allowing this form of environmental vandalism for decades to come simply shouldn’t be an option. That is why we have teamed up with Richard Haward’s Oysters and others to bring a legal challenge to try to compel the Government to rewrite its plan, and bring forward the deadlines for water companies to act”.
Water firms are seen as excessively reliant on using storm overflow pipes to discharge sewage when there’s heavy rainfall.
The government’s plan for tackling water firms’ wastewater dumping effectively excludes most coastal waters - except for swimming spots - MCS says.
And 600 storm overflows are not covered at all by the plan. They will continue to be able to dump uncontrolled amounts of sewage directly into English seas and beaches for years to come, completely legally.
The earliest targets for tackling the toxic problem don’t need to be met until 2035.
According to the government’s own assessment, only 19% of estuaries and and 45% of coastal waters have a "good" ecological status, - while none at all have a "good" status for levels of dangerous chemicals.
Three quarters (75%) of England's shellfish waters are failing to meet water quality standards overall, with many scoring poorly for sewage-linked bacteria like e-coli.
Rachel Wyatt, Policy & Advocacy Manager for Clean Seas at the Marine Conservation Society said untreated sewage in our rivers contain a “cocktail of bacteria, viruses, harmful chemicals, and microplastics” that are difficult to filter out once in the water.
Emma Dearnaley, Legal Director at the Good Law Project, said she was “delighted” MCS and Tom Haward had joined the fight to get tough on sewage pollution.
Defra would not comment on ongoing legal proceedings but the department says water companies are investing £3.1 billion in storm overflow improvements between 2020 and 2025.
