MPs wade in over Morecambe Bay sewage dumping controversy

Tuesday, 23 August 2022 08:37

By Greg Lambert @greglam72

Our local MPs have waded in over the Morecambe Bay sewage dumping controversy.

David Morris, Conservative MP for Morecambe and Lunesdale, has claimed that there is "no sewerage being pumped into Morecambe Bay".

This comes after a Liberal Democrats analysis claimed that sewage had been dumped into waters containing shellfish 29,000 times last year in the UK and the longest sewage dump of 5000 hours took place in Morecambe Bay.

Water company United Utilities said the discharge figure was "incorrect and misleading".

Meanwhile Cat Smith, Labour MP for Lancaster, has written to United Utilities demanding answers after swimmers in the bay reported seeing human faeces in the water.

Mr Morris (pictured below) has accused the Lib Dems of "running a disinformation campaign saying that sewerage has been dumped into waters 29,000 times last year".

"This is not true, any outputs into the water in Lancashire and Cumbria is storm water only," he said.

A spokesperson for United Utilities told Beyond Radio: “The discharge figure quoted by the Liberal Democrats is incorrect and misleading.

“The impression given, that one single discharge lasting 5,000 plus hours was released directly on to the beach at Morecambe South, is wrong.

"The figures are a total of storm overflow spills at multiple sites around Lancashire and Cumbria which feed into river catchments which could potentially have an impact on Morecambe South bathing water.

“The North West coastline has seen billions of pounds of water company investment over the last 30 years meaning that bathing waters are now cleaner than they have ever been. Across the region, 93% of bathing waters were classified as Good or Excellent in 2021 and all met the designated minimum standards.

"Morecambe South is classified currently as Good (as is Morecambe North).

“We are already committed to a programme of action for further improvements, and we are spending £230m over the next three years to reduce the impact of storm overflows.”

The Lib Dem analysis claimed that the longest sewage dump event into shellfish water last year took place at Morecambe Bay by United Utilities – lasting 5,000 hours. They also said the sewage monitor only worked 15 per cent of the time, meaning that figure could be much higher.

Tim Farron (pictured below), Liberal Democrat spokesperson for the Environment and MP for Westmorland and Lonsdale, said: "England’s treasured shellfish, our prawn, crayfish, lobsters and crabs, are the forgotten victims of this environmental scandal.

"The past week we’ve seen our beaches closed because of these polluting water companies. All the while, they are raking in billions of pounds in profits and forking out eye-watering bonuses to their CEOs.

"Frankly, the whole thing stinks. Why aren’t Government Ministers listening to the public on this? They are ignoring the country’s outrage at this scandal."

Cat Smith, MP for Lancaster, (pictured below) wrote to United Utilities on Friday after reports of "individuals swimming past human excrement" in Morecambe Bay.

Ms Smith wanted to know if water quality tests had been carried out following these incidents and asked how often raw sewage was discharged into the bay and if there were any plans to reduce or stop these discharges.

"Like so many people, I have been horrified to read the reports of people swimming alongside raw sewage in Morecambe Bay over the weekend," she said.

"I have written to United Utilities demanding answers and highlighting the risks this practice poses to the health of humans and our environment alike.

"Let’s be clear: we are living in a climate and ecological emergency. It is unacceptable that water companies are able to dump raw sewage in our rivers and coastal waters and represents a failure from both the Government and from our water companies."

In July, The Environment Agency (EA) released its annual report on the environmental performance of England’s nine water and sewerage companies.

United Utilities was one of the best performing companies with a four star rating, albeit with some improvements to be made.

Morecambe North and South beaches were classed as having 'good' quality water during their most recent classification.

A pollution risk warning was in place for Morecambe North beach on Tuesday, August 23, advising people against bathing in the water.

The Environment Agency reported no pollution warning for Morecambe South beach.

The EA reports the water quality status for the UK's beaches on a daily basis.

On its website, United Utilities says that it is working together with the Environment Agency and local authorities to improve sewer systems across the region.

"At Morecambe Wastewater Treatment Works, we are upgrading the existing treatment process so that it uses the latest technologies and ensures the effluent leaving the works meets Environment Agency standards," said a spokesperson for United Utilities.

"We plan to build two large storm water storage tanks and new pumps at Schola Green pumping station and update the wastewater treatment works at Morecambe. We also plan to lay a new 7km sewer pipe between the two sites.

"We need to make these improvements to our wastewater treatment to reduce how often storm water spills from the sewers and help ensure that the coastal waters at Morecambe Bay comply with the new European Union bathing water standards."

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