Daisy’s campaign to require water companies to prioritise their upgrades to porous pipes which contribute to sewage pollution in chalk streams, is one step closer, following a meeting the MP had with the Water and Flooding Minister.
On 23 April, Daisy proposed a new law – the Chalk Streams (Sewerage Investment) Bill – which would require water companies to prioritise their existing pipe upgrades to prevent sewage spills in areas with chalk streams and similar habitats, like the River Ver in St Albans.
Locally, Thames Water has already rolled out some upgrades in limited areas, including successfully in Buckinghamshire. But despite calls by Daisy and the Ver Valley Society, they have failed to provide assurances that they will now prioritise such upgrades in local areas with precious environmental features, like chalk streams – where the environmental damage from sewage dumping is even greater.
In Parliament, Daisy recently urged the government to support her Bill and secured a meeting to discuss this further with the relevant Minister.
Following years of Liberal Democrat campaigning, now when water companies are replacing broken pipes or performing other upgrades such as separating rainwater runoff into soakaways, or diverting from foul sewers into a separate drainage network, they are required to prioritise this work in chalk stream areas first. But the same rule does not necessarily apply to lining existing pipes which may not need replacing but become overwhelmed when there is groundwater saturation leaking into the pipes.
Accordingly, during the meeting – which took place on 24 June – the Minister confirmed that the government would now explore whether it could expand existing powers to achieve this goal, or alternatively whether new powers would be needed.
The Minister also agreed to write to Water UK and water companies, including Thames Water, Southern Water, Anglia Water and Yorkshire Water – all of which have chalk streams in their areas – to raise the issue.
These commitments mark major progress in Daisy’s campaign. Daisy said:
“It’s really exciting to see that my years of campaigning on the sewage scandal is starting to pay off and that Ministers are now actively looking into whether and how we can force water companies to give chalk stream areas the priority they deserve.
“Sewage dumping is a scandal wherever it happens, but that’s even more the case when it damages the environmentally rich and rare habitats of chalk streams, such as the River Ver.
“It’s quite frankly astonishing that upgrades to porous pipes aren’t yet being prioritised in areas like ours.
“It’s promising that the government are looking into whether and how they can advance the goal of my proposed new law, including by raising this directly with water companies.
“I’ll keep pressing the government on this, and on tackling all sewage dumping until this horrendous practice comes to an end once and for all.”
Daisy introducing her Chalk Streams (Sewerage Investment) Bill in Parliament.