Is Severn Trent dumping sewage into the River Severn?
CAMPAIGNERS fear sewage is being regularly dumped into Gloucestershire’s rivers. The Marine Conservation Society (MCS) suspects that Severn Trent Water is using 20 combined sewer overflow pipes in the county. It says the practice, which is not illegal, must be better controlled. Tom Bell, of the Ross-on-Wye-based MCS, said it was raising the issue because the Environment Agency’s attempt to impose stricter conditions on the practice had just failed. The Planning Inspectorate, he said, had upheld an appeal against the move by Severn Trent and five other British water companies. They had opposed licensing measures being required for 2,400 pipes allowed as a temporary measure when water authorities were privatised in 1989.