Water companies apologise over sewage spills but campaigners say it is meaningless without action
Water companies serving the region have apologised for the amount of sewage spilled in rivers – but campaigners say words are worthless without action.
Ruth Kelly chairperson of industry body Water UK which represents South Staffs and Severn Trent water companies, said sorry as part of an announcement for the biggest modernisation of sewers "since the Victorian era".
But critics say the upgrade will mean a rise in bills and that the firms should soak up the cost themselves as a goodwill gesture to customers.
Musician and environmental campaigner Feargal Sharkey called it a "half apology" that was another attempt to extract more money from customers.
"We should have an apology for the suggestion they are going to put bills up by £10bn for their incompetence and their greed. This is nothing to celebrate," he said.
Last year, problems with storm sewers included in Swindon, Staffordshire, were there were 61 incidents of overflows - equivalent to about 34 days non-stop. In Lower Gornal there were 48 incidents totalling 71 hours. In Ettingshall Park, near Bilston, a sewer storm overflow spilled 40 times equivalent to about 29 days non-stop.
Other areas affected included Great Bridge, in Tipton, and several locations in the Cannock and Stafford areas.
While South Staffs Water is the water supplier for most of the Black Country and parts of Staffordshire, the sewerage pipe service is operated by Severn Trent.
Severn Trent's river protection boss Gail Pickles said: "We fully welcome today’s announcement from Water UK and we support the commitments set out by the sector.
"We completely understand why people feel let down by all water companies when it comes to rivers, and we want to make it right.
"That’s why we are spending hundreds of millions of pounds a year to make our rivers as healthy as they can be. In the first year of our work, we’ve reduced our impact by a third, but we know there’s more to do, and we’ll go further and faster to fix things as quickly as we can.”
Ms Kelly also said: “Over time, the way the system works is that there will be modest upward pressure on customer bills over the full lifetime of the asset, so over 50 years or perhaps even longer, maybe up to 100 years, customers do contribute.
“This is an investment programme that will go on for years. We literally want to do this as fast as is physically possible.”
“The message from the water and sewage industry today is clear. We are sorry. More should have been done to address the issue of spillages sooner and the public is right to be upset about the current quality of our rivers and beaches.
"We have listened and have an unprecedented plan to start to put it right. This problem cannot be fixed overnight, but we are determined to do everything we can to transform our rivers and seas in the way we all want to see,” she added.
