Wessex Water bosses challenged to drink from River Avon after 'swans in sewage' video
Bosses of regional sewage company Wessex Water have been challenged by music star-turned river campaigner Feargal Sharkey to drink a glass of ‘heavily diluted’ rainwater and run-off, after a video of swans swimming in a ‘plume of raw sewage’ in the River Avon went viral on social media.
The former Undertones singer, who has become a relentless campaigner against the water industry’s record on pollution, issued the challenge after highlighting a video from lawyer and environmental campaigner Paul Powlesland, which he said showed swans in the River Avon near the centre of Bath swimming in sewage following a ten minute shower of rain over the weekend.
As the video reached nearly a quarter of a million views, Wessex Water responded by engaging with Mr Powlesland and confirming that that particular overflow would be upgraded ‘by 2035’.
The row began after Mr Powlesland, a barrister and climate activist who founded the group Lawyers for Nature to help legal challenges on environmental law, came to Bath to meet with local activists on river pollution. As he walked along the River Avon near Victoria Bridge, he photographed and filmed an overflow releasing brown-coloured water into the river, with swans swimming in it.
He posted the video and picture onto X, formerly Twitter, and slammed Wessex Water, which is responsible for dealing with sewage and waste water in Bath and Bristol, and the catchment area of the River Avon.
“It’s hard to imagine a more shameful indictment of our sewage crisis than what I witnessed on the River Avon this afternoon,” he said. “A flock of swans and ducks feeding and cavorting in a plume of raw sewage, just a few hundred metres from the centre of the genteel city of Bath.
“This huge sewage spill entered the river after a short ten minute rainstorm of average intensity. It is highly unlikely that the circumstances were exceptional and thus this discharge is likely to be a criminal offence,” he added.
“I, somewhat ironically, spotted this spill on my way to speak to local river activists on the Avon. I’ve encouraged them all to demand that both the Environment Agency and the local authority, Bath and North East Somerset Council, hold Wessex Water to account for their disgusting & disgraceful actions,” he added.
More than two hours later, as the video and photograph began to be widely shared and commented on, Wessex Water responded, after 9pm on Saturday evening. After first establishing the location of the picture, Wessex Water said the discharge seen would ‘largely be rainwater’.
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“Discharges from this overflow will largely be rainwater and run-off from the road - any sewage will be heavily diluted,” a spokesperson said. “We agree overflows are outdated though and are investing £3 million every month to reduce them, with plans to increase this investment between 2025 and 2030.”
Mr Powlesland pointed out that the overflow happened after only a short, ten-minute shower of rain, and discharging waste water from the sewage system into rivers through these overflows can only be legal if it is ‘exceptional circumstances’.
“I was out in that rain, it lasted less than ten minutes and on a scale of 1-10 of rain heaviness, was probably a six or seven. If that level of rain is sufficient to trigger the outfall, it must be happening dozens of times a year, which cannot be exceptional?” he said, before asking when specifically the outflow photographed would be upgraded.
Wessex Water responded saying it would be upgraded ‘before 2035’. “There aren’t specific plans for it yet as we’re prioritising those that spill most frequently. This includes a new stormwater storage tank we’ve built near an overflow in Lambridge, Bath, and another currently under construction in Fox Hill,” the firm’s spokesperson added.
Mr Powlesland said Wessex Water should speed up infrastructure work instead of giving money to shareholders as dividends.
“I think the majority of the public believe it is unacceptable for you to continue to send money to your shareholders, rather than urgently doing the necessary work to prevent your infrastructure covering swans in central Bath with raw faeces dozens of times a year,” he said. “The days of you being able to ethically, politically & legally get away with this behaviour are numbered,” he added.
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Wessex Water’s first response, that ‘any sewage will be highly diluted’, triggered a furious response from Feargal Sharkey, who has been critical of Wessex Water previously, most recently in a visit to the River Avon between Bristol and Bath to support now local MP Dan Norris as part of the General Election campaign back in the summer.
“They can’t help themselves can they, trotting out this same old propaganda bull****,” the singer said. “It’s illegal, save for ‘exceptional circumstances’. “Oh and my offer still stands, Wessex Water, you drink a glass of that so-called ‘heavily diluted’ sewage and I’ll donate £1,000 of my money to any charity you care to nominate,” he added.
When Mr Sharkey last called out Wessex Water on the issue of storm overflow discharges into the River Avon in Bath and Bristol, the firm responded by saying they don’t ‘dump sewage’, and storm overflow incidents, where waste water pipes are opened to allow flow out into rivers, increased because it was one of the wettest years since records began.
The firm said storm overflows contribute just three per cent of the reasons why the River Avon catchment doesn’t achieve a ‘good’ ecological status, while the biggest two reasons why the river through Bristol and Bath is polluted is down to rainwater running off roads, buildings and homes, and the pollution from agriculture.
“We understand storm overflows are an issue for many customers and we agree they are outdated, which is why we’re spending over £3 million every month to progressively improve them,” a spokesperson said. “Subject to regulatory approval, this investment will more than double from 2025.”