Extinction Rebellion fight to raise awareness of raw sewage in rivers

It was all part of a national effort to raise awareness of the issue.

It comes after Mr Glen refused in October 2021 to back an amendment to the Environment Bill which sought to place a legal duty on water companies to “take all reasonable steps” not to pump untreated sewage into rivers -  a vote he says has been “widely represented”.  

Image Annette J Beveridge (Image: Annette J Beveridge Newsquest)

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Raw sewage can lead to many infectious diseases including dysentery and salmonella and has a huge impact on animals and plants. Algal blooms increase with the presence of sewage which can lead to the deaths of other species.

After unveiling the plaques, Extinction Rebellion campaigners marched through the city centre on Saturday, January 28 to spoke to those passing by the river in The Maltings.   

Extinction Rebellion campaigner Graham Wise said: “This isn’t a local action, it’s coordinated part of national action and although we are here today, in John Glen’s constituency, and awarding him this blue plaque, it’s a national problem.

“We sit here on the confluence of the five rivers, which are the largest chalk water river systems in the world, and we are the guardians and the stewards of the cleanliness of that. I think it is really important that’s maintained as a very special habitat.

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“The last thing we need to see is dead fish floating downstream, and the last thing we need to see is dogs coming out of the river covered with excrement. The last thing we want to fear is our children going bathing in those rivers in the summer and coming out with conjunctivitis.”

Vote widely misrepresented

Salisbury MP John Glen said: “My vote has been widely misrepresented. As I wrote in The Journal at the time, an instant ban on sewage entering rivers by any means was impossible to achieve and therefore nonsensical to vote for.

“The total upgrade of our sewers to make them impervious to rain is a project that will take several decades to complete.

“If in the meantime, heavy rain caused any part of the system to flood, the alternative to managed discharges would be to allow sewage to rise up through manhole covers and into our streets and homes, from whence it would be impossible to prevent it from contaminating groundwater and reaching our waterways anyway.

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“I could not vote for a public health catastrophe that would also have failed to achieve the aim of protecting rivers.

“But ministers have made it crystal clear to water companies that the current number of sewage discharges is utterly unacceptable. Companies cannot continue discharging sewage as a sticking plaster for inadequate maintenance of the system."

He added: “Tackling storm overflows is a top priority to protect both public health and the environment. To that end, the government set out plans to revolutionise how water companies operate. They face strict legal limits on when they can use storm overflows and must take responsibility for completely eliminating any harm caused to the environment.”

A spokesperson for Wessex Water said: “Storm overflows operate automatically during or after intense rainfall to prevent flooding of properties and are licensed by the Environment Agency. What’s released is mostly stormwater after combined sewers have become overwhelmed.

“We agree that storm overflows aren’t fit for the 21st century, so we’re spending £3 million per month on improving them and reducing how often they operate.”