Sewage discharge into the River Dee

The Leader of Cheshire West and Chester Council has written to the Secretary of State at the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs to ask for immediate action for the water companies to provide full transparency of sewage discharges into local waterways.

Councillor Louise Gittins, Leader of Cheshire West and Chester Council has written to Ranil Jayawardena MP, Secretary of State, Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs to ask for immediate action for the water companies to provide full transparency of sewage discharges into local waterways, with an obligation to inform the public and local councils through real-time information, and to work with local government to put in place mitigating actions.

The full letter:

Dear Secretary of State,

Congratulations on your appointment as Secretary of State. Cheshire West and Chester Council has a strong relationship with local Environment Agency and DEFRA officials. We take our responsibility for the stewardship of this borough very seriously, including one of the most industrialised areas of the UK around Ellesmere Port, the historic city of Chester, Delamere Forest, and a substantial agricultural and rural environment. We have declared a climate emergency and have radical plans to meet our responsibilities as a borough. I look forward to continuing to work constructively with your department under your leadership.

You will have heard the dismay being expressed around the country at the discharge rates of sewage into our precious waterways. I hope that addressing this appalling situation can be at the top of your action list.

We have experienced this locally, with unacceptable sewage discharges into the River Dee during periods of pressure on the drainage system, and with no warning to the public or local council. This impacts on the Dee Estuary Special Protection area, jeopardising its unique biodiversity. I support the position set out by the Chief Executive of Chester Zoo, who wrote on Dwr Cymru Welsh Water to describe the risk to a habitat of international importance.

As you can imagine, the situation is also regarded with disgust by our local residents. I would love to be able to reassure the many wild water swimmers that the river is safe to swim in at any time of year and would like to consider officially designating parts of the River Dee as a bathing water. Instead, we have to strongly recommend against wild water swimming in the Dee. In addition, as our coastline borders the River Mersey, we are also concerned about the sewage discharges into the river by United Utilities, which has received prominent media coverage.

Our Council, with support from our Local Enterprise Partnership, has been pleased to invest over £8 million in a new 1km long rainwater drainage tunnel under Chester, to reduce flooding and untreated sewage discharges into the river Dee arising from the old combined sewage system, and to provide a future-proof environment investment in Chester’s growth potential, including our new Northgate scheme. The new drain can handle 1,000 litres of rainwater per second – and serves an area of around 50,000m2. However, while helping to contribute to the separation of rainwater and sewage, this investment is a drop in the ocean compared to what is needed locally and nationally.

I welcome the public interest that is being shown in this issue, and in particular the work of campaign groups to expose incidents of sewage discharge. Locally, our councillors, on a cross party basis, have established a Scrutiny Committee Member Task Group to make recommendations for local and national actions. As an immediate step, I would encourage you to direct the water companies to provide full transparency of sewage discharges into our waterways, with an obligation to inform the public and local councils by the provision of real-time information, and to work with local government to put in place mitigating actions.

I look forward to your response.

Yours sincerely

Councillor Louise Gittins, Leader - Cheshire West and Chester Council