A CAMPAIGNING group is calling for action after pollution in the River Kennet led to a bout of sickness.
The Berkshire branch of the Campaign to Protect Rural England (CPRE) wants the Environment Agency to have more powers to tackle the issue of water companies releasing raw sewage into rivers and streams.
Raw sewage has been released into the water across Berkshire during and after Storm Ciaran, according to Thames Water.
The water company’s online discharge map showed at least 20 locations across the county where its sewage systems overflowed in the hours before, during and after the storm.
Thames Water says untreated sewage discharges happen when its sewage systems can’t cope with heavy rain. When this happens, it opens storm overflows, releasing the rain and foul water into watercourses.
The River Kennet runs from near Silbury Hill in Wiltshire and flows across Hungerford and Newbury on its way to Sonning Lock in east Reading.
The CPRE says this water pollution is an increasing problem throughout England, caused both by sewage discharges into rivers and by chemical run-off from agricultural land, and pollution has got into the River Kennet, the River Pang and the Foudry Brook, among others.
“Chalk streams like the River Pang and the River Kennet are extremely important in terms of biodiversity,” says CPRE Berkshire Chairman Greg Wilkinson.
“The water in these streams is usually clear as it contains very little sediment. There are only 210 chalk streams in the entire world, the majority of which are in England. This makes it all the more crucial that we protect the water quality in the Kennet and the Pang.”
The Environment Agency downgraded the Pang to ‘poor’ ecological status due to repeated sewage discharges into the river.
Mr Wilkinson said: “Just a few years ago it was still classified as ‘good’, then put down to ‘moderate’ and is now classed as ‘poor’. What on earth is going on?”
He says the situation is urgent and action should be taken urgently.
“We are facing a water quality emergency which requires immediate action. We have had too many excuses from Thames Water. CPRE’s view is that the Government should step in and give the Environment Agency the powers and resources it needs to ensure that the water companies clean up our rivers and are no longer allowed to release sewage and other pollutants into the water.”
Thames Water has discharged sewage water into waterways more than 8,000 times in 2022, 777 of which were storm overflows.
The company says it plans to spend some £1.6 billion on upgrading its infrastructure. But it was also reported earlier this year to be struggling to pay off some £14 billion of debt – and has been criticised for paying millions of pounds in dividends each year to its internal shareholders.
A Thames Water spokesperson said: “We regard all discharges as unacceptable and we have published plans to upgrade over 250 of our sewage treatment works and sewers.
“In Berkshire, we recently upgraded our sewage works in Hungerford, costing £5million and have started a £10million upgrade at our site in East Shefford. We also have a significant upgrade planned for Hampstead Norreys, which is due to complete in 2025.”
In September, the government published its updated Storm Overflows Discharge Reduction Plan.
Environment Secretary Thérèse Coffey said: “Water companies must clean up their act and our Plan means no overflow will be left behind in our efforts to clean up our waterways.
“Through more investment, stronger regulation and tougher enforcement of the water sector we will tackle pollution from every storm overflow in the country.”
Additional reporting: Nick Clark, Local democracy reporter
