October 1st: Over two days the first two in October, untreated sewage poured into the Blyth at Halesworth from the two monitored CSOs (Combined Sewage Overflows) at the Sewage Treatment Works (STW). This is legally permissible only under extreme weather conditions. Although the rainfall was persistent, it was by no means an ‘extreme event’ and we are likely to see similar – and heavier rainfall – in the future, further exacerbated by climate change. Similar ‘spillages’ occurred at all of the CSOs at Beccles into the Waveney.
What this clearly illustrates is that the capacity of the sewage treatment infrastructure – pipework, pumps, treatment plant and temporary holding tanks – is inadequate: it is unfit for purpose, despite the assurances of large investment by Anglian Water. Far from showing an improvement, the number of CSO ‘spillages’ across the UK in 2023 was the highest on record.
In addition to more extremes of weather due to climate change, there is a large increase in house building in and around Halesworth, adding significantly to the stress on sewage treatment facilities.
Wilder Wenhaston River Group has been monitoring pollution in the Blyth for over 18 months and has shown the poor state of river in terms of nutrient pollutants and bacterial contamination (including E. coli concentrations of hundreds of times the ‘safe bathing’ limit.) These contaminants are predominantly from sewage treatment effluent, rather than from agricultural sources. The river Blyth is a small, sluggish river and sewage effluent has a large impact: at Halesworth the STW final effluent contributes around 30% of the river volume.
Wilder Wenhaston believes this state of affairs is completely unacceptable: it poses a risk to our health, degrades the ecology of the river, and requires immediate remedial action.
Dr Wil Harvey
Wilder Wenhaston River Group