内容摘要："Many of our rural communities are served by smaller sewerage networks and storm overflows, which are essential to ensure networks do not become overwhelmed and flood properties.

"Many of our rural communities are served by smaller sewerage networks and storm overflows, which are essential to ensure networks do not become overwhelmed and flood properties.

His views were echoed by Water UK Chief Executive David Henderson: "Any sewage flowing into waterways is a disgrace. Unfortunately, it's a system fault that we have in our network which mixes rainwater and wastewater. Nobody wants to see any spill of sewage in our waterways."England, like much of the world, has a combined sewage system meaning that rainwater and sewage share the same pipes. In some instances, when there is too much rain, treatment works can be overwhelmed, and sewage is spilled via overflow points into the country's rivers, lakes and seas to prevent a back up to the system.

This practice is legal.have revealed that sewage has also been spilled by water companies under dry conditions in breach of their permits.Water companies collectively oversee more than 15,000 of these overflow sites and this was the first year where all sites were monitored, revealing for the first time the extent of spilling.

Sewage was spilt for 3.614 million hours in 2024 compared to 3.606 million hours in 2023.CEO of River Action, James Wallace, said: "A year on from last year's catastrophic pollution figures, the true scale of the UK's water crisis is only now coming to light. The figures have barely budged, testament to the deepening sewage scandal."

In 2022, Prof Chris Whitty, chief medical office for the UK,

sewage spills can pose for those using the country's waterways. Chief amongst them is bacteria from human faeces which he said can "increase the risk of significant infections including antibiotic resistant bacteria".He added that shopping trolleys were not ending up in the river by accident and "we need to call it out".

"We need to do all we can as a nation to reduce the amount of waste and that type of behaviour for the long term," he said.Gerwyn Chillcot from Bridgend is volunteering at the clean-up and said the mess was "disgusting".

"To think all this mess that has been dumped over the years is disgusting, but it's good it's being cleaned up now for the environment."This is toxic at the end of the day and all the chemicals from the tyres are going into the water."