I do refute the criticism and accusation that raw sewerage is 'being pumped into waterways'. The Government has put policies into place that mean we have more monitoring of sewerage than ever before.
The only time there may be overflow into waterways are in times of torrential rainfall or when our sewers have been blocked - often by residents and businesses flushing items such as wet wipes down the toilets or pouring cooking fats and oils into their sinks.
99% of our waterways and coastline are classed as Good for bathing, and 90% are classed as Excellent. That continues to be the case.
For readers' information, last year's Cleethorpes Beach closure was actually due to a seafront business' private sewer being broken and leaking into the sea - nothing to do with the water company or other sewerage overflows. Environmental Health Officers and The Environment Agency regularly test our waters. Incidentally, Grimsby's open water swimming was not affected, and very rarely is, - if ever - because of the dock gates. I have been informed by Anglian Water that materials that the public sometimes identify as sewerage outflows after rainfall are actually algae.
There are some unfounded accusations that we have extended targets to 2063. This is not the case. This is actually a calculation by EA as to how long it may take some persistent chemicals that are in our waterways to naturally disperse. Until recently, we did not have the ability to measure many of the chemicals, so could not know quantities and there is no way of expelling them from ort waterways other than naturally.
The majority of these chemicals are from agricultural activities (fertilizers and the like) that have leached into our waterways over time. That is why the Government is working with farmers to incentivise them to work in different ways in the future that are more environmentally friendly.
This Government has done more that any other Government to improve our waterways and more will be done when we announce our 25 year Environmental Improvement Plan in the coming months.
