iNews: The national parks blighted by convoys of sewage tankers
“Sewage tankers have started to descend on one village in the Lake District 'every time it rains', according to locals
Trucks full of sewage are blighting some of England’s most beloved national parks as water companies scramble to patch up holes in their infrastructure, i has learnt.
Residents of villages in the New Forest and Lake District said sewage tankers have become a regular presence on their streets, bringing noise and pollution to previously quaint hamlets.
Last week i reported growing concerns about water companies’ use of tankers to transport high volumes of sewage around their network, often due to infrastructure failures such as burst sewers. In some cases, more than 200 trucks were sent to towns to deal with major pollution incidents.
Locals said the tankers caused endless problems, including bad smells, increased traffic and noise. Now people living in the country’s most protected landscapes say they are being forced to contend with similar issues.
“There’s pollution. There’s a film of fuel that is coming out of the lorries. There’s sewage… there’s debris,” said Amanda Irwin, who lives in the village of Troutbeck, three miles north of Windermere in the Lake District.
The vehicles, she said, had “decimated” lanes in her village: “We’ve got massive craters in [the lanes] because of these huge lorries.”
Mr Staniek has tried to request data from United Utitlies under the Environment Information Regulations regarding their tanker operations, but has been repeatedly refused.”
