'For years this has been described by water companies and politicians as a problem of “Victorian” sewers.' 'In fact, modern sewers are the problem. Very little of the British sewer system – less than 1 per cent, in some areas – is Victorian, and it is not the Victorian sections that are responsible for the most spills.'
'The £78bn that has been distributed to shareholders since privatisation has been extracted entirely from the public. The £96bn the industry says is needed to fix the system by 2030 will also come from the public.'
British Journalism not even entertaining the notion that the contaminated water could come from a sewage outflow, of the sort our Water Companies are notorious for.
Must be Refugees or Queers or something, innit Brits? /s
United Utilities failed to stop pumping millions of litres of sewage into Lake Windermere for 10 hrs in February & didn't report it to the Environment Agency until 13 hours after it started.
The pumping station is only permitted to discharge untreated sewage into Windermere if it’s overwhelmed by rainfall or snowmelt.
And therein lies the bigger problem: allowing privatised water companies to pump raw sewage into waterways & lakes at all.
This article from April 3rd this year shows the threat to Windermere from raw sewage. At the time this article was written we didn't know about the massive February discharge of raw sewage which has just come to light.
Just in case you'd forgotten that the water utilities have been pumping sewage into our waterways on a regular basis, United Utilities have been found (again) pumping sewage into Windermere.
Not only that, strangely they did exactly the same thing the year before... its almost like they'd prefer to pay dividends & enhance executives' pay than actually fix the problems in their infrastructure.
Meanwhile in the Lake District, more evidence that the sewage discharge(s) already identifies across the country as ruining the UK's beaches & seawaters, are having similar impact inland - Lake Windermere is going green as more semi-treated sewage flows into the lake & feed the algae that turn the water green.
Yet more proof that the only people who gained from water privatisation were the investors - for the rest of us it looks like daylight robbery!
Palestinians walk next to a sewage spill near tents for internally displaced people at a temporary camp in Rafah camp, southern Gaza Strip, on April 26, 2024 [Haitham Imad/EPA]
Not sure what to make of this: one of my best ex-students has just been recruited to work at OfWat.... maybe I'll get an inside track on the necessary changes at the regulator, and perhaps (!) what I taught them about critical political economy will help them influence (for the better) the future direction of water regulation.
Hang on -- so Thames Water in the UK hasn't done necessary maintenance to prevent sewage spills into rivers and the ocean. Now, after so much public backlash about their environmental damage, they plan to do that work, and then RAISE the customers' bills by 40-44% to recoup the costs???
It would seem for all their claims about being stewards of the land & working with the environment, a significant proportion of framers are contributing to the pollution of our rivers....
I have some sympathy with milk farmers who have been struggling against a market rigged by the supermarkets, but equally this will win them few friends... and nor should it; this really is sh*tting on your own doorstep (figuratively & literally!)
The fun of self build. I've spent most of the day working out how to design a sewage treatment plant and drainage field where the water table almost reaches the surface in winter.
I'm now looking at a holding tank and pump to squirt the outgoing liquid from the treatment plant into a "drainage mound". As the saying goes ... its a load of sh1t.
My next task this weekend is to do a "percolation test" so I know how big to make everything.