Wet 2023 sends spills data soaring

Sewage discharges rose by 54% in 2023, Event Duration Monitoring data has shown. The sharp increase was largely due to the heavily wet year following a drought year; the Environment Agency said the most comparable year was 2020, with 2023 registering a 13% rise on 2020. Comparability is further hindered by the growth in EDM installations, which is now 100%.

Nevertheless, the Agency commented that “heavy rainfall does not affect water companies’ responsibility to manage storm overflows in line with legal requirements”.

Water UK said the results were “unacceptable” and called on Ofwat to fund its remedying plan.

The data is available here: https://environment.data.gov.uk/dataset/21e15f12-0df8-4bfc-b763-45226c16a8ac

• Sampling in February and March of a stretch of the River Thames included in the course of this weekend’s Oxford and Cambridge Boat Race found levels of E.coli up to ten times higher than acceptable for designated bathing waters graded poor. River Action and the Fulham Reach Boat Club, which conducted the tests, said the sampling locations indicated that the source of pollution is from Thames Water’s sewage discharges.

According to BBC Sport, Oxford rowers who lost to Cambridge at the weekend in both the men’s and women’s races criticised the river’s quality. It reported three members of the Oxford men’s boat had been ill with a stomach bug ahead of the race, but the origin was not definite.