All of the UK’s rivers are now polluted with sewage, with campaigners warning of a “toxic chemical soup” in our waters.
Leading campaign group Surfers Against Sewage is calling on the government and water companies to tackle the issue, as new data showed only 40 per cent of rivers are deemed to be in good ecological health.
According to the website Top of the Poops, which collects information on sewage dumps, found there were at least 513,234 spills into rivers in 2024, lasting more than 4 million hours.
Sewage can harm wildlife and river ecosystems because chemicals, including everything from pharmaceutical drugs to phosphates, entering the water from sewage systems are toxic. It can fuel the rapid growth of algae, which can choke out other forms of life by consuming all the oxygen.
It can also be a source of E coli, which can cause diarrhoea, stomach cramps and fever when ingested by swimmers.
Wessex Water was listed as the worst offender, with 5,221 sewage spills into the River Avon, which runs through the southwest of England between Bath and Bristol.
Other rivers with significant pollution include the River Trent with 3,186 spills last year, as well as the River Ouse in Yorkshire and the River Severn in the South West.
In Wales, the River Teifi endured 2,232 sewage spills by Dwr Cymru Welsh Water over 22,288 hours. Consistent dumps were recorded in Cardigan Bay despite its popularity with swimmers, kayakers and its abundance of wildlife.
In its annual water quality report, SAS recorded spills into Scotland’s rivers and lochs every 90 seconds last year, with a lack of accuracy over its data leaving people unsure if it was safe to swim.
The group said that while the “missing data” means the true figure is not known, it could have been as high as 364,629 discharges.
SAS chief executive Giles Bristow told The Independent: “Every time we test the water, we find a worse toxic chemical soup. It’s pharmaceuticals, toxins, sewage – it’s worse than we’ve feared, we can only describe it as a continued environmental degradation.
“We are the canaries in the coal mine. These are rivers and lakes that are poisoned with sewage, fungus and toxic chemicals.
“Nature does not have a chance, yet we pay these water companies to clear up these issues.”
SAS said it received 1,853 sickness reports in the UK last year, which it said was the equivalent of nine years’ worth of sick days linked to sewage pollution.
But it warned the true scale of sickness was likely to be “far higher” as most people don’t report it.
Kirsty Davies, community water quality manager at Surfers Against Sewage: “Our rivers are in a dire state.
“People up and down the country rely on our blue spaces for their physical and mental wellbeing, but risk their health each time they take a dip. This is unacceptable and all thanks to our profiteering water companies, who treat our rivers like open sewers.
“With the weather warming up and the official bathing season about to start, more and more people will be flocking to the UK’s rivers and beaches to enjoy their natural beauty.
“However, these waterways remain choked with sewage pollution. Despite the government promising billions in further investment to clean up our waterways, we cannot end the sewage crisis until we see radical, systemic change and end to pollution for profit.”
