Oxfordshire: Sewage discharged for thousands of hours

Some 1,861 hours of discharges of raw sewage were reported from Oxford sewage treatment works.

And 16,000 hours of discharges were recorded from West Oxfordshire sewage operations upstream of Oxford in what campaigners described as “a deluge” of pollution.

When sewage is released from these plants, it feeds into the Thames and is carried throughout the city.  

In December the Wolvercote Mill Stream, which achieved designated bathing water status in April 2022, was rated 'poor' for a third consecutive year, with the Environment Agency advising people to avoid swimming in it.

If it is ranked "poor" for five consecutive years it could lose its special status.

The River Evenlode, which joins the Thames approximately one mile down river from Cassington, received a total of 11,577 hours of sewage discharges, according to the Evenlode Catchment Partnership.

The River Windrush through Witney received a total of 5,823 hours with 1,690 hours from Witney sewage treatment works alone.

And Oxford sewage treatment works discharged raw sewage for 1,861 hours, according to the partnership's statistics.

Thames Water's storm overflow map indicates multiple areas in the county where overflows are taking place today.

Ash Smith, chair of Windrush Against Sewage Pollution (WASP), said: "The same state of affairs persists at many local sewage works, notably Clanfield, which is still an utter disgrace despite various attempts by councillors and our MP to get Thames Water to fix the problem - they simply haven't."

Figures from website Sewage Map, operated by Oxford academic Dr Alex Lipp, show over 2,000 hours of discharges from Witney in 2023.

Mr Smith said: "As the ludicrously high numbers of 2,237 hours of untreated sewage in the last 12 months - or 93 days' worth of pollution - suggest, this has often been in dry conditions, which is illegal but largely ignored by the Environment Agency."

The Environment Agency (EA) currently allows sewage to be discharged on any day when it has rained and only investigates if there has been sewage released on a "dry day".

The EA is currently conducting its largest criminal investigation into releases made during dry weather by water companies.

Claire Robertson, Oxford Rivers project officer at Thames21, said: "Our rivers are under siege from pollution, with hours of raw sewage discharges and run-off from roads and farmers' fields.

"Unfortunately these pollution incidents don't only occur during storms, but also year round, with the average sewage treatment works in upstream of Oxford discharging raw sewage for 500 hours a year."

She said more funding for the Environment Agency, stricter regulation, and "heavier penalties for water companies polluting and failing to upgrade infrastructure," was required.

However, campaigners agreed water companies are facing a big backlash over this issue.

Mr Smith said: "Public awareness is growing exponentially - the scandal is even the subject of mainstream comedy, and it is a voting issue.

"Things are hotting up as the opaque and shaky finances of various water companies are being revealed as the next example of failed regulation and in a few weeks time, all political parties are going to need a convincing plan to end this scam."

Mr Lewis added: "Yet again the rivers of West Oxfordshire have been subjected to a deluge of untreated sewage.

"What have we or our rivers done to deserve this type of abuse?"

A Thames Water spokesperson said: “Taking action to improve the health of rivers is a key focus for us and we want to lead the way with our transparent approach to data.  

"We’re the first company to provide live alerts for all untreated discharges throughout our region and this ‘near real-time’ data is available to customers as a map on our website and is also available through an open data platform for third parties, such as swimming and environmental groups, to use. 

“We regard all discharges as unacceptable and we have published plans to upgrade over 250 of our sewage treatment works and sewers.  

"We’re currently increasing sewage treatment capacity at a number of our sewage works across the Thames Valley, including Witney which is expected to complete in 2024.”