iNews: Water firms allowed to dump sewage into rivers using permits from the 1950s
“Some permits date back to the 1950s during the era of rationing and the Suez crisis.
Hundreds of permits that allow water companies to dump sewage into Britain’s rivers have not been updated by Government officials for decades with some remaining unchanged since the 1950s, i can reveal.
An i analysis of permits obtained under Environment Information Requests (EIRs) found that some are lacking basic details such as how much sewage a treatment centre can handle before spilling into England’s waterways.
Others do not include limits on pollutants, such as phosphorus, which in high quantities can have a devasting impact on rivers.
i‘s investigation has identified almost 100 permits for active sites that have not been updated since 1989, when water companies in England were first privatised. Two permits date back to the 1950s during the era of rationing and the Suez crisis, while 24 are from the 1960s. Hundreds more have not been updated in at least a decade.
Campaigners have accused the Environment Agency (EA) watchdog, which is responsible for the permits, of “being asleep at the wheel” and have called for them to be urgently updated to include tougher restrictions for water firms.
Geoff Tomb, a researcher from the campaign group Windrush Against Sewage Pollution, described the permit as “no more than an acknowledgement that spilling takes place at the site but without any permit restrictions”.
There is also concern that restrictions on discharging treated sewage are not stringent enough in Britain’s most protected areas, such as the Lake District.
One example includes the permit for the Troutbeck Wastewater Treatment Plant, that sits within the Lake Windermere catchment area, which hasn’t been updated since 1996.
The permit contains no limits on the level of pollutants, such as ammonia and phosphates, that can be discharged into the water from the treatment plant, meaning the local water company, United Utilities, is not required to test for these nutrients.
Matt Staniek, a conservationist and founder of the Save Windermere campaign, said the permit “is yet another example of the EA being asleep behind the wheel”.
“The absence of limits on the amount of nutrients coming from wastewater treatment works is, in today’s age with readily available technology, unacceptable and outdated,” he said.”
