Campaign For Better Sewage Treatment
You can’t boycott water companies, but you can join campaigns for them to invest more in treating sewage, instead of giving huge profits to shareholders.
This is happening with the campaign to Save Windermere, via a 10-point plan, to stop illegal dumping of raw sewage into England’s largest lake.
Rainwater in theory should dilute sewage, but with a population of 60 million people, it’s no longer possible to rely on a downpour to treat it for us.
You can report sewage pollution. Signs are:
- Distressed animals (call local wildlife rescue) or dead animals or fish (gasping for air)
- ‘Toilet waste’ (bathroom tissue and things that should not be flushed but are: wet wipes, condoms, sanitary towels/tampons)
- Bad odours and brown water. Treated water is grey or black. Surfers Against Sewage writes that ‘if the water’s brown and smells like shit – it probably is’.
You can email your MP about illegal dischard of raw sewage. Surfers Against Sewage says that if brown foamy water is lapping at the shore and ‘smells funky – it’s probably shit’.
What Causes Sewage Pollution?
The main cause is Sewer Overflows (it’s legal for water companies to discharge untreated wastewater during heavy rain periods, but this is now happening more on a routine basis, using an old system that can’t cope). Major investment is needed, but instead water companies are giving out billions in dividends
In 2023, Anglian Water was fined £2.65 million for letting untreated sewage overflow into the North Sea due to decommissioning equipment, and failed to act on data due to no alarm system). This is to date, England’s largest ever environmental fine.
Many people get ill from swimming in our seas and rivers. You can submit a sickness report to help their monitoring and campaigning. Risks include gastroenteritis, hepatitis and E.coli (bodyguards and wild swimmers are three times more likely, to carry this antibiotic-resistant bacteria in their guts).
Download the Surfers against Sewage app to report sickness or pollution, to help them take action against water companies that don’t clean up their mess.
Sewage adds something called phosphorus, which creates algae blooms, and this starves the lakes of oxygen (the same reason why environmentalists say to avoid phosphates and chemicals in laundry powder – search our site, we list loads of alternatives!)
Eventually blooms explode and kill surrounding wildlife and fish. Many fish have suffered at nearby Cunsey Beck including Atlantic salmon, white-clawed crayfish, European river eels, trout, pike and perch. The Arctic charr (the local species of fish that has existed since the Ice Age) is now extinct locally.
