In the press

NATIONAL NEWS:

There are national stories and events which impact on the River Sid.

6 December 2022: “The Environment Agency has identified the source of the pollution affecting the Rivers Piall and Yealm in South Devon. We are supporting the work to stop the discharge and prevent further material from being washed down the river.” Rivers Yealm and Piall turn white as water becomes polluted – Devon Live

29 November 2022: “The legal case seeks to compel the Government to rewrite its Storm Overflows Discharge Reduction Plan 2022 and impose tighter deadlines on water companies.” Suing the government over sewage pollution at sea – Vision Group for Sidmouth

25 November 2022: The Government’s Storm Overflows Discharge Reduction Plan (The Plan) is supposed to show how the government will deal with sewage pollution from storm overflows, but… WildFish has started a court action seeking to force the withdrawal and redrafting of the Government’s Sewage Overflows Plan | Wildfish

17 October 2022: Last year in Britain raw sewage was pumped into rivers and coasts 375,000 times. Not a SINGLE river in England has a clean bill of health. Aaron Bastani explains how private water companies are killing the country’s waterways – and why water bosses should face jail time. How Private Water Companies Are Killing Britain’s Rivers | Aaron Bastani – YouTube

26 August 2022: “by 2025, water companies will have reduced overflows discharges from 2020 levels by around 25%.” “By 2035, water companies will have: improved all overflows discharging into or near every designated bathing water; and improved 75% of overflows discharging to high priority sites.” “By 2050, no storm overflows will be permitted to operate outside of unusually heavy rainfall or to cause any adverse ecological harm.” Storm_Overflows_Discharge_Reduction_Plan.pdf

15 June 2022: “Whether it’s to save on a water bill or help the environment, reusing water is a great idea. In fact, reusing “greywater” can reduce water waste by up to 40%.” Greywater: reducing the amount of water we waste – Vision Group for Sidmouth

9 May 2022: The Wildlife Trusts discuss the state of our rivers in the UK and ask why, despite legal protections being put in place, some of them are in a dire state. Are our river protections failing? – Vision Group for Sidmouth

22 January 2022: “The emphasis is ultimately on creating an ecosystem that will sustain itself over time, without the need for constant intervention.” Wetland restoration – the Continent, the UK and the Sid Valley – Vision Group for Sidmouth

17 January 2022: “The report clearly identifies the need for proactive education, citizen engagement, stronger regulations, greater enforcement and better government funding for investigations.” Water quality report: ‘routine pollution in our rivers’ – Vision Group for Sidmouth

29 September 2021: “One way of dealing with this might be environmentally friendly methods of treating human waste, such as constructed treatment wetlands (CTWs), or artificially created wetlands specifically designed for the treatment of wastewaters.” Drugs in our rivers – Vision Group for Sidmouth

15 September 2021: Reports by 1) Salmon and Trout Conservation, 2) a coalition of charities, including the RSPB, the National Trust and the Rivers Trust, and 3) the New Statesman – all show high levels of pollution are ending up in our rivers: Looking after our rivers | Vision Group for Sidmouth

9 September 2021: Only14% of the UK’s rivers are deemed to be in a good ecological state – so would giving them more ‘rights’ help protect them? Creating a stink on Britain’s dirty rivers | Vision Group for Sidmouth

23 July 2021: Surfers Against Sewage have witnessed the latest pollution off the Devon coast: “Raw sewage is being pumped into our waters and it’s an ongoing problem.” | Vision Group for Sidmouth

19 July 2021: There are concerns that the latest scientific studies show that “Active coronavirus has been found in faeces, so sewage discharge into rivers where people swim, especially in these hot weather conditions, is potentially lethal.”: Coronavirus in untreated sewage “can remain infectious” | Vision Group for Sidmouth

13 July 2021: The Environment Agency has just published its annual report on the water companies – and it doesn’t make very impressive reading: EA report: in the South West, only one in every five rivers support a healthy ecology | Vision Group for Sidmouth