Vicar fears unmonitored sewage reaching river

A vicar from Shropshire has said he is concerned that raw sewage overflowing from a manhole during floods could be reaching a river.

Paul Cawthorne said there were bits of macerated toilet paper and wet wipes surrounding a manhole less than 5m (16ft) from the River Roden in Shawbury

As it is a manhole, it is not included in Severn Trent Water's list of storm overflows, which legally have to be monitored.

The company said the flooding was caused by a local blockage as a result of people flushing wet wipes and nappies down toilets, but added it was confident it had not reached the river.

Mr Cawthorne has raised concerns about water pollution for many years, and believes waste from a nearby housing estate may be getting into the river at Shawbury Nature Park, when there's heavy rain.

"It looks like there's been a fountain of detritus, that's come out of a manhole cover lying in the undergrowth, alongside the river... what concerns me is that this sewage is not being monitored by Severn Trent on their storm overflow map".

Jessica Hamlett, waste team manager at Severn Trent, said: "The pipe that flows under the manhole is a foul sewer, it goes under the river and into the pumping station.

"The manhole is part of our normal sewer network and as it's not a storm overflow, it would not show on our overflow map.

"We believe this flooding was caused by a combination of blockages by things that shouldn't have been flushed such as wipes, nappies and sanitary products together with hydraulic overload on the system due to heavy rain from the recent storm".

The company went on to say that this location had flooded with extremely low frequency, with only one event recorded in the past year.

The chairman of Shawbury Parish Council, Paul Sharpe, said he could recall the river flooding at least six times in 12 months, including twice in the last month.

The River Roden runs into the River Tern near Walcot and then into the River Severn at Atcham.

Mr Cawthorne said: "We're catching fish with big sores on them in the River Severn... children paddle in the river at Ironbridge... the whole thing is a disgusting mess and needs sorting."

Earlier this month, Ofwat announced how much it was allowing water companies to raise bills, to pay for supply upgrades and to reduce sewage discharges.

Severn Trent is increasing the amount households pay by 46% over five years, from an average of £398 a year to £583, plus inflation.

The vicar for Hadnall, Clive, Grinshill and Astley said if the investment had come in previous years, then "we would not be in the mess we are in now".

Severn Trent Water has announced that it will spend £1.7bn to reduce spills at storm overflows across its region, including £140m in Shropshire.

The company is also spending £80m on the expansion of Shelton water treatment works to boost supplies, laying 119 miles of new water pipes in the county and creating 49 new local jobs.

Mr Cawthorne said: "My worry is that the capacity increases seem to lag the housing developments, so we will get more overflows into rivers from insufficient capacity infrastructure in the next few years."

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