Shocking figures show thousands of sewage spills in St Helens waters

During periods of heavy rainfall last year, water companies discharged raw sewage into open waters to prevent it backing up and entering people's homes.

Data from The Rivers Trust’s updated Sewage Map, which shows local breakdowns of monitored storm overflows, indicates that in 2021, raw sewage was discharged into St Helens North’s natural surroundings for 5,706 hours in total.

This is around 218 days' worth of sewage entering the town's water systems, equivalent to a continuous flow of raw sewage for almost months of the year.

Sewage discharge has come from water companies into waters like the Sankey canal

Further analysis from St Helens North MP Conor McGinn found that there were some 1,081 counted sewage spills across the constituency, at a frequency of a single spill every 8 hours on average.

There were also 2,453 spills recorded across St Helens Borough more widely.  

The Governments Environment Bill caused controversy last year after it voted down proposals from Labour to put more pressure on water companies from discharging sewage. 

Conor McGinn MP has raised the issue of water resilience and safety for the environment and wildlife

Stating that the Bill let polluters "off the hook", Mr McGinn has urged the Government to provide more support for water safety and resilience issues.

He has previously raised the issue of decommissioning the Fiddler’s Ferry power plant on the Sankey canal, with local swans and fish having to be re-located as a result.

Mr McGinn stated that he fears that the levels of raw sewage in local waterways could pose further risks to humans and animals across St Helens’ eco-system.

Mr McGinn has worked with musician Feargal Sharkey on the issue of water safety

Conor McGinn's statement:

Speaking of the sewage figures in St Helens, Conor McGinn MP said: “These shocking figures lay bare the extent to which the Conservatives have allowed our precious waters in St Helens to be treated as an open sewage dump.

“People and wildlife across our borough deserve and rightly expect clean, safe water in our local streams, brooks and historic waterways, as well as robust infrastructure to support and sustain this in places like the Sankey Canal. To see water firms polluting so brazenly is a disgrace.

“I’ll keep up my work with campaigners nationally and in our community to toughen regulations and hold reckless activity to account, so we can crack down on and end this awful practice.”

What has the Government said?

Environment Secretary George Eustice said: "We will require water companies to protect everyone who uses our water for recreation, and ensure storm overflows pose no threat to the environment.

“Water companies will need to invest to stop unacceptable sewage spills so our rivers and coast lines can have greater protection than ever before.”