Loughborough, like many areas in England, has in places, a combined sewage system made up of sewers built by the Victorians. This means that clean rainwater and wastewater from toilets, bathrooms and kitchens are conveyed in the same pipe to a sewage treatment works.
Occasionally, during periods of exceptionally heavy rainfall, the capacity of these pipes can be exceeded, which has the potential to back up and flood homes and communities.
Locally, I am pleased that our water company, Severn Trent Water has been acting already on this issue with their Get River Positive plan which commits them to ensure none of their operations cause harm to rivers by 2030 and to reduce storm overflow activations to an average of 20 times per year (down from 27) by 2025. They have been awarded the 4 star rating for environmental performance three years running. I have spoken with their Chief Executive to discuss this topic on behalf of Loughborough and have toured the key sites in the constituency with their management team (pictured).
I welcome that the government has recently announced its national ‘Plan for Water’, which will address pollution at every source, including from storm overflows, agriculture, plastics, chemicals and pesticides.
The plan will transform the management of the whole water system, backed up by new funding to improve all water bodies in England. Water companies across the country will speed up their infrastructure upgrades – bringing forward around£1.6 billion for work to start between now and 2025 to reduce sewage discharges and increase water resilience.
The government’s actions will deliver a national clean water environment for nature and people, by addressing each of the multiple pressures and sources of pollution on our water bodies. This includes a ban, subject to consultation, on the sale of wet wipes containing plastic, and more than doubling the money for slurry grant infrastructure for farmers to £34 million.
If you would like further updates on this subject, or require my assistance on another issue, please do contact me.
Jane Hunt MP
