River Frome sewage spills spark urgent calls for water reform

Liberal Democrats leader Sir Ed Davey and Claire Young, MP for Thornbury and Yate, test water quality at Black Rocks on the River Frome. Picture date: Friday October 18, 2024. PA Photo. Photo credit should read: Ben Birchall/PA Wire
-Credit: (Image: Reach Publishing Services Limited)


Calls for urgent action to fix Britain’s waterways have been made by Liberal Democrat leader Sir Ed Davey after he visited the River Frome in Frampton Cotterell last week.

Recent data has revealed that nearly 25% of all sewage entered into the river last year happened in the village, raising alarm among residents, environmentalists, and politicians alike.

The Liberal Democrats have taken up the cause, with their leader, Sir Ed Davey, making a personal visit on Friday, October 18, to test the river’s water quality.

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Data reveals that in 2023, Wessex Water used the 70 Combined Sewer Overflows (CSOs) situated along the River Frome to release raw sewage into the river and its tributaries 1,900 times, with overflows lasting a total of 12,210 hours.

Frampton Cotterell bore the brunt of this, with 424 spills amounting to 3,613 hours of sewage flowing into the river—making it one of the most affected areas in the region.

“We were here just testing the water, talking to a local campaigner who knows it very well, just to highlight the fact that so much more needs to be done,” said Sir Ed Davey, standing alongside Claire Young, the newly elected Liberal Democrat MP for Thornbury and Yate.

FRAMPTON COTTERELL, ENGLAND - OCTOBER 18: Liberal Democrats leader Sir Ed Davey and Claire Young, MP for Thornbury and Yate, walk along the River Frome at Black Rocks after testing water quality on October 18, 2024 in Frampton Cotterell, England. Liberal Democrats leader Ed Davey visited Frampton Cotterell, in Gloucestershire, southwest England on Friday, to test water quality in the River Frome. The river was subject to 4,058 hours of sewage spills during 2023, according to data from the Environment Agency. (Photo by Christopher Furlong/Getty Images)

Mrs Young, whose family has long roots in the area, has been an advocate for cleaning up rivers. Together, they are calling for fundamental changes to the water industry, with Sir Davey pushing for Wessex Water to be turned into a Public Benefit Company to ensure that environmental protection is prioritised over profits.

Sir Davey said the village’s sewage crisis is driven by the number of CSOs, which are designed to release sewage during heavy rains to prevent urban flooding. However, in Frampton Cotterell, this system has been overwhelmed. Last year, three of the top five most active CSOs along the entire river were located within the village, exacerbating the pollution.

For Sir Davey, this situation is a failure of both corporate responsibility and government regulation. “There’s an awful lot of combined sewage outflows in this stretch of the river, and this village is probably the worst affected part of the River Frome,” he explained. “That’s why we’ve come here—to highlight how bad it is and why there needs to be much tougher action, both by the government and the water company.”

The issue of sewage spills is not unique to Frampton Cotterell, with the Lib Dems saying they are determined to reform the water industry on a national level. The Liberal Democrats’ policy proposal includes the creation of a Clean Water Authority, a new regulator that would merge the powers of Ofwat, the Environment Agency, and the Drinking Water Inspectorate to better hold water companies accountable.

“We don’t think Ofwat and the Environment Agency have done a good enough job,” Sir Davey said. “We want a new regulator with real powers to crack down on water companies.”

In addition, the Liberal Democrats are calling for water companies to be restructured into Public Benefit Companies, a model used successfully in other parts of the world. This change, according to them, would allow water companies to continue operating commercially while prioritising environmental goals and public health over shareholder profits.

The calls for reform come in the wake of rising public anger over the industry’s practices. In 2023, Wessex Water’s executives pocketed more than £1.6 million in compensation, including £530,000 in bonuses—all while residents of villages like Frampton Cotterell were left to deal with the consequences of rampant sewage pollution. “We can’t wait for decades,” Sir Davey said. “We’ve got to do this in this decade.”

Sir Ed Davey in the River Frome
Sir Ed Davey in the River Frome

The anger and frustration of Frampton Cotterell residents have been echoed across the UK, where communities in rural and coastal areas are grappling with similar sewage spills.

According to Claire Young, the local MP, her constituents have expressed grave concerns about the ongoing pollution in their waterways. “We’ve got a significant number of sewage spills here and in the tributaries like Rodden Brook,” Mrs Young said, noting that local volunteers regularly test the water quality. “I think it shows the level of concern if people are prepared to give up their time to go and do that.”

She is optimistic that ongoing infrastructure improvements, such as the installation of holding tanks in the village, may help alleviate some of the pressure on the sewage system. However, she remains cautious.

“We had high hopes when the Frome Valley Relief Sewer went in, but that hasn’t been enough to stop the problems,” she explained. “We’ll wait and see what impact the holding tanks have.”

For both Sir Ed Davey and Claire Young, the issue is one of accountability. While government regulation is key to solving the problem, they believe that communities themselves have an important role to play. Local groups like the Upper Frome Friends are already on the front lines, conducting water tests and organising river cleanups. “The fact that they go out and do the testing, which gives us valuable data on the problem, is an excellent way for people to get involved,” Mrs Young said.

She also highlighted the need for stronger penalties for water companies that fail to address sewage spills. “We would like to see water bosses being able to be taken to court over this, and high penalties imposed,” Mrs Young stated. “We need to take this issue seriously.”

Sir Davey agrees, stressing that regulation alone won’t be enough without a public mandate to reform the industry.

“It’s not going to be solved overnight, but we need urgency,” he said. “You go around the country, you see some rivers that have basically died. It impacts leisure, tourism, and our environment. We can’t wait for decades. We’ve got to take action now.

“We’ve got to recognise how serious this is,” he said. “We can’t kick the can down the road any longer.”

A Wessex Water spokesperson said: “We're aware that our licensed storm overflows in Frampton Cotterell operated frequently in 2023. While it protected local properties from flooding in what was the fourth wettest year since records began, we agree that overflows are outdated so we are investing £3 million a month to improve them.

“This includes a £5 million project currently underway in Frampton Cotterell to build three large stormwater storage tanks, which will increase capacity and reduce how often the nearby overflows will operate. MP Claire Young was briefed about this work earlier this year and it is on track to be completed in January 2025.

“For the second year running, no bonuses relating to environmental performance have been paid to our directors. Bonuses are set by an independent remuneration committee and assessed against a range of different metrics.

“We have also laid out plans to invest £445 million towards reducing the operation of storm overflows – more than double the current spend – in our revised 2025-30 Business Plan which is currently being considered by the regulator Ofwat.

“More widely, the number of storm overflow events are related to the amount of rain being able to mix with flows in sewers – as it currently does from the majority of the country’s properties and roads.

“We believe rain should be valued as a resource and, where possible, used and returned to the environment close to where it falls. Alongside our ongoing work, this requires the political understanding and will to bring forward policies that that promote best practice in rainwater management at source.”