River users, activists and councillors join Surfers Against Sewage protest

River users and activists joined together on Saturday (20 May) to protest against sewage dumping in the UK’s waterways, including the River Great Ouse.

Organised by Cory Walker of Surfers Against Sewage (SAS), the action saw around 50 people, including local councillors, take to the water and peacefully protest along the Embankment to call for an overhaul of the water industry.

Alongside SAS, local protesters were calling for an end to sewage discharges into UK bathing waters and a 90% reduction in sewage discharges by 2030.

Just last month, Anglia Water was fined £2.65 million after pleading guilty to “a catalogue of failures by the company to manage and monitor effluent” at one of their water recycling centres.

This then allowed untreated sewage to overflow into the North Sea.

In a statement issued through Water UK on 18 May, water and sewage companies admitted to dragging their heels on taking action to stop sewage discharges into the UK’s coastlines, rivers and lakes.

Attending the protest, Liberal Democrat Group Leader Councillor Henry Vann said the apology is “far too late”, and called for water firms to become “public benefit companies,” making environmental goals more important than profits, and making it compulsory for environmental experts to sit on their company boards. 

“This would put an end to billions of pounds being wasted in dividends whilst sewage destroys waterways,” he said.

Saturday’s Paddle Out Protest organiser, Cory, said: “Our protest attracted around 50 people, whether that be kayakers, wild water swimmers or those who don’t use the water but are still equally concerned and furious about water companies polluting our waterways.

“Sewage pollution is such a huge issue. People are getting sick from swimming and using our rivers, sea and lakes because of the amount that gets discharged into them.

“We need companies such as Anglian Water to listen and take action to keep our waters safe for all.”

Following criticism from Cllr Vann, North East Bedfordshire MP, Richard Fuller (Conservative) defended his absence from a 2021 House of Commons vote on storm overflows and sewage.

“I did not vote down tougher action on water quality and sewage discharges,” he told the Bedford Independent.

“On the contrary, this Government has put in place bold and legally enforceable measures on overflows and discharges, with increased transparency.

“In 2021 I felt unable to vote for the Government on its then plans for storm overflows and sewage discharges as I wanted to go further and be bolder.

“I am pleased that the voices calling for stronger measures have now prevailed: new legal obligations on water companies and record planned investment of £56 billion to tackle storm discharges and last year, 93 per cent of bathing waters were classified as “good” or “excellent”, which is up from 76 per cent in 2010.”

Mr Fuller called on the new mayor, Tom Wootton, to apply for Designated Bathing Water Status (DBWS) for the River Great Ouse, which would ensure that during ‘peak bathing season’ the Environment Agency would test the water for pollutants, providing reassurance for bathers.

The new portfolio holder for Environment, Cllr Jim Weir (Conservative) said: “We as a Council are very concerned about pollution that affects public open waters such as rivers and ponds. The Environment Agency are responsible for managing this in Bedford Borough and we will continue to work with them where we can.”

Information about water quality in Bedford Borough can be found on the Bedford Borough Council website here.