Sewage Pollution: The Story So Far

The practice of discharging raw sewage into our rivers, lakes and coastal waters was not one that the public was really aware of until late last year. However, once they were their anger and disgust at the practice was clear.

Shortly after it hit the news, the Guildford Lib Dem team and I organised a public protest to enable local people to show the strength of their anger and concern about the issue. It was attended by nearly 100 people despite having just a few days' notice. These residents came together with us to make it clear to Guildford's Conservative MP and Thames Water that enough is enough and that they would not stand for raw sewage flowing into the River Wey and its tributaries that flow through our communities; waterways on which people live, kayak, paddle, walk alongside, allow their dogs to swim in and use for many other leisure activities.

As I prepared for the protest and did press on the issue I was appalled by the extent of the problem. Waterways in Guildford saw 192 sewage discharge incidents totalling 1789 hours - the worst of which lasted 476 hours alone. Another stat that shocked me is that the River Wey flowing through Guildford and neighbouring Waverley is one of the worst 23% in terms of ecological and overall river health.

Of course, the situation in Guildford is being repeated in communities up and down the UK.

I also came to realise that the two key reasons the practice of sewage dumping has become commonplace with water companies are:

• An ageing sewage network that water companies have failed to upgrade properly over the decades since privatisation.
• Inadequate water infrastructure to cope with the development taking place in our communities.

And yet water companies continue to make huge profits without any sanctions from Government for the damage they are causing.

Alongside our local protest, I have been applying pressure regularly to Guildford and Cranleigh's Conservative MP, calling for her to act and urgently. So far, she has failed to do so, instead loyally voting according to the Conservative whip in every vote.

I have also taken my campaigning to a national stage, proposing an amendment at the Liberal Democrat party's Spring Conference with the aim of giving more power to local authorities to hold water companies to account, ensuring that they tackle existing problems that are a source of endless frustration and issues in our communities, and also that they can insist that new developments have adequate infrastructure built to cope with the extra pressure.

My colleagues in Westminster have also taken a firm line on the issue, continuing to try and get meaningful legislation to be brought in to tackle sewage pollution rather than the wishy-washy and sanction-free offerings of the Conservative Government. They are not giving up, and neither am I locally, on this important issue.

Timeline: Votes, U-turns and more votes