Panarama

[Hfd Cattle]

Just watched panorama . .....I know I should be out working ...but I'm not !!!
Waterways becoming contaminated by the water authorities!
Farmers are getting blamed all over the country for river pollution but it scales into insignicance when it's revealed what sewers are entering out waterways .

 

[Av Gorritt]

We have a stream naturally stocked with trout that borders one of our fields . It also borders the local sewage plant . Sometimes , if there's been a lot of rain ( when hasn't there been ?) they open the valves and discharge directly into the stream . The stink then is almost unbearable . And they are the ones presumably, who would prosecute if we did similar with untreated run off . Funnily , I've never heard the angling club complain about dead fish .

 

[Cab-over Pete]

I think it’s getting more common for private sewer treatment tanks to emit more stinking stuff too.

It’s a regular occurrence to get a whiff of it in ditches.

 

[traineefarmer]

We had to attend a meeting in the village where some local residents had been suffering flood and the drainage on one of our rented fields was being blamed. The local diocese who own the land had appointed some drainage consultants to survey the problem.

The usual story; new build estate with concrete gardens built on a water meadow and fitted with septic tanks and soakaways. Anything other than average rainfall and everything back fills and the honeycart operator gets to buy another Mercedes.

Everything ruled in our favour but I learned from the consultants that this is happening all over the country due to planning authorities not thinking things through and building regs stating that surface water must be directed to a soakaway. These often fail and the homeowner can then apply to the water authority for permission to direct surface and gutter water from their property to the sewer!

This is why even after a mild storm, treatment plants are having to overflow to rivers.

 

[thesilentone]

In the last 40 years the population of the UK has grown by at least 10m, that's an awful lot of additional human waste. Add climate change and the lack of investment in our existing drainage infrastructure, and you have the perfect storm for a environmental catastrophe.

At a time when the Environmentalists and Environment Agency are trying to drag us back to the dark ages.

If anyone thinks this is an issue, I strongly recommend you watch Seaspiracy on Netflix.

 

[Humble Village Farmer]

It's a pity third not more valued as a resource rather than waste.