Clean water campaigners have expressed relief as a Government U-turn will result in tighter controls on dumping raw sewage into rivers and lakes.
However, with 6,400 spillages of untreated effluent across Eden last year, activists warned the levels of pollution from storm overflows in the district’s waterways are still unacceptably high.
Neil Hudson, MP for Penrith and the Border, was one of 265 Conservative MPs who originally voted down an amendment to the Environment Bill from the House of Lords aimed at stopping private water companies from dumping raw sewage into the UK’s rivers and seas.
Prior to the vote, he said it was “well-intentioned but unrealistic and would have been prohibitively expensive”.
This prompted a torrent of criticism from those pointing to Eden as having one of the most polluting systems of waterworks in the country.
Last year, Crosby Garrett waterworks spilled raw sewage into Blind Beck 276 times for a total of 5,286 hours, putting it in the worst one per cent nationally.
This means that for the equivalent of 220 days untreated effluent made its way into the River Eden Special Area of Conservation from this single Upper Eden site.
Crosby Garrett is not alone. In 2020, Glassonby village waterworks spilled raw sewage for 4,501 hours and Kirkby Stephen waterworks for 4,063 hours. Sites at Greystoke, Little Salkeld, Ravenstonedale and Orton all overflowed for more than 3,000 hours each.
On Tuesday, Defra announced the government had made a U-turn on the issue, placing a new duty on water companies to secure a progressive reduction in the amount of sewage leaked into natural waterways.
Chief executive of Eden Rivers Trust Elizabeth Radford said she was delighted with the decision.
“Without doubt this change of heart is a victory for people-power,” she added. “For rivers trusts such as ourselves and others who work with rivers this has been a massive issue for years; but one that was flowing under the public radar.
“Thanks to the relentless awareness-raising by many river-related groups and individuals, there is now wider awareness of the unacceptable levels of sewage pollution entering rivers from storm overflows such as those at Denton Holme, Carleton Hall and Morland.
“Heavy rain like we have this week exacerbates the problem. The public has made its voice heard. We all want and expect clean rivers — they are essential for people’s health, for agriculture and for wildlife. We have known since we learnt it in school; clean rivers are fundamental for life.”
Among those putting MPs in the firing line were Calum, Jack and Robbie Hudson, also known as the Wild Swimming Brothers, who became the first people to swim the length of the River Eden over nine days in August, 2015.
Hailing from Langwathby, the three former Ullswater Community College students grew up with their garden backing on to the Eden, where they first fell in love with the open water. Since then, they have been figureheads for the wild swimming movement, creating books, films and artwork on the topic as they undertake their wild water exploits.
Callum said: “The River Eden is seriously under threat. It is an absolute travesty that Neil Hudson previously voted down the amendment to prevent private companies from dumping raw sewage into this river and many others.”
The two worst performing sites across the UK last year were both in Cumbria and both run by United Utilities.
Sedburgh sewage treatment works spilled untreated sewage for 8,490 hours last year, meaning it was only not leaking raw effluence for 270 hours.
Second was the Plosh combined sewer overflow in Keswick. At the heart of a Unesco world heritage site, the site spilled more than 370 times last year for more than 8,275 hours into waterways associated with Derwentwater.
A spokesman for United Utilities said: “During storm conditions, when sewers and treatment plants are operating at full capacity, we are permitted to spill excess storm water from combined sewer overflows (CSOs) to help prevent the flooding of streets, homes and businesses.
“Over the past 20 years, United Utilities has invested £1.2bn improving CSOs to reduce the amount and impact of spills. We stand ready to invest further in our rivers to help bring about the transformation we all want to see.
“But for this investment, we’re calling on government and Ofwat to match our ambition at the next price review.”
