River campaign group slams authorities over storm sewage response

River campaigners are warning that human waste is being dumped into the Severn in Shrewsbury in the aftermath of Storm Eunice and Franklin and that reporting it is ‘too complicated’.

At the weekend campaigners from Up Sewage Creek discovered several places in town where manhole covers were overflowing, with signs that human excrement and sanitary products were being released into the river untreated.

Claire Kirby, a spokesperson for the group says: "We were shocked to find lots of places where the sewer system was dumping human excrement and sanitary products into the river right in front of our eyes. The pig trough at Coton Hill was flooded and the gate had been left open which meant there was no damage limitation in place.

"We also found manhole covers in Bagley Brook and Greenfields Gardens that were overflowing. Given how high the flood water is at the moment, these won’t be the only places where this is happening."

Campaigners say their attempts to report the sewage issues to the authorities proved more difficult than expected after they were told there was no official way to identify the locations.

Says Ms Kirby: "In the past I’ve reported issues like this to Severn Trent Water, but I was told by an environmental health officer that SWT don’t keep a log, so public reports have limited value. This time I contacted the Environment Agency directly. They told me I could report any sewage outfall incidents into either a watercourse or onto land at any time when the river is in flood. So that’s 24 hours a day at the moment!

"The problem is that the points where the sewage is overflowing into the Severn aren’t properly marked. I was asked to use the what3words app to help identify the locations. Why doesn’t Severn Trent Water properly label their Combined Sewer Outfalls and manhole covers so they’re easy to identify? It feels like they’re trying to make reporting issues as hard as possible."

Meanwhile, a lone protester braved the elements to stage a one-man protest about the sewage issue on the banks of the Severn near Castlefields in Shrewsbury. The man, who gave his name as Ross, sat on an unplumbed toilet while dressed as the Shrewsbury & Atcham MP Daniel Kawczynski.

Says Ross: "Everyone in Shrewsbury knows that raw sewage is flowing into the Severn at a shocking rate. The water companies don’t care because they’ve been making huge profits while the river’s been dying.

"It is unacceptable that in 2020 in the Shrewsbury and Atcham ward alone there were 2,514 sewage releases into our streams and rivers across 48 sites involving amounting to 30,083 hours duration of raw sewage polluting the Severn and its tributaries. Our MP has had seventeen years to do something about this, but he’s been asleep at the wheel."