Motion submitted in accordance with Council Procedure Rule 14 as to Water Quality and Sewage Discharge
To consider the following Motion in the names of Councillor Marchington and Councillor P A Davies;
“This Council notes
that:
1)
Most of the UK has a combined sewerage system,
meaning that both rainwater and waste water (from toilets,
bathrooms and kitchens) are carried in the same pipes to a sewage
treatment works. However, during heavy rainfall, the capacity of
these pipes can be exceeded, which has the potential to back up and
flood people’s homes, roads and open spaces, unless it is
allowed to spill elsewhere. As a result, the system is designed to
overflow occasionally and discharge excess wastewater into our
rivers and seas. However, data shows that the use of overflows is
not occasional, as it should be;
2)
Sewage and wastewater discharge is a significant
factor in water quality and has an adverse impact on the health of
river ecosystems;
3)
According to the Wildlife Trusts, only 16% of waters
in England are currently in good ecological health and none meet
chemical standards. This means that, overall, there are no rivers,
lakes, estuaries or seas in England that are currently in a healthy
condition;
4)
This is a local issue as well. Last year, the amount
of time sewage was allowed to spill into Yorkshire’s
waterways was 232,054 hours, with 54,273 monitored spill events.
According to the Environment Agency, parts of Yorkshire have some
of the highest number of serious water pollution incidents in
England and Kirklees has ranked amongst the highest in recent
years. Data from 2021 has revealed that 5 of the top 20 most
polluted rivers are in Yorkshire, with the River Calder the second
most sewage-polluted waterway in the country, with sewage flowing
into the river and tributaries for 27,901 hours;
5)
The national Liberal Democrat party has published a
plan to help tackle the sewage scandal. This includes:
· A ‘Sewage Tax’ of 16% on water companies to create an emergency fund for cleaning up rivers. The party believe that a significant proportion of the profits that water companies make should be reinvested to protect Britain’s streams and rivers, as it should be the water companies and not consumers who should pay to clean up the mess.
· Local environmental groups to be added onto water company boards to help support the water companies in their duties to protect and enhance the environment.
· Water companies should adopt a ‘public benefit company’ model, so that economic and environmental policy objectives are also considered when running the company, rather than just a return for shareholders.
· Ofwat, the water regulator, should be abolished and replaced with a tough new independent regulator with real powers, to protect our rivers and beaches from sewage dumps. The new regulator would have the power to hand out unlimited fines and, if necessary, to prosecute companies who fail to meet their legal duties.
· Rivers in Britain should be given a new ‘blue flag status’ to protect waterways from sewage dumping. The designations would work in a similar way to the international ... view the full agenda text for item 17:
Decision:
Deferred to the following meeting of Council to enable the submission of a revised Motion, incorporating the Labour Group amendment.