Anonymous WQR0009 Written evidence submitted Anonymously I submit this as a member of the public. Sewage pollution in South Tyneside’s watercourses and coastline. (Contains public sector information licensed under the Open Government Licence v3.0.) I have done a lot of research into sewage pollution in South Tyneside, especially pertaining to Whitburn. My research has mainly involved the discharging of untreated sewage out to sea but I have looked at the state of sewage pollution in our local rivers and from the local sewage treatment works. At Whitburn, South Tyneside, we have an extremely important set of baselines for your call for evidence in that: The discharge volumes at Whitburn are measured as large pumps are used to pump the sewage out to sea. Elsewhere in the country Event Duration Monitors (EDMs) are used on Combined Sewer Overflows which only determine when an overflow event begins and when it ends. EDMs do not determine the intensity (Volumes discharged) of the event. We also have unusually large amounts of information collected during a government led 2001 inquiry into the local wastewater treatment system and We have information and evidence from the 2012 ECJ court case concerning discharges at Whitburn which found the system was not in compliance with the Urban Waste Water Directive Snapshot of sewage pollution locally (It is appreciated that the sewage pollution totals will be mirrored in other parts of the country – but here in Whitburn we can determine volumes). • In 2017, 569,221.5 tonnes of untreated sewage were pumped into the North Sea via the Long Sea Outfall at Whitburn • In 2017/18, the Hendon treatment works overflowed untreated sewage into the North Sea on 124 days when the rainfall was a moderate 664 mm for the period. • In 2018, 376,593 tonnes of untreated sewage were pumped into the North Sea via the Long Sea Outfall at Whitburn • In 2018, untreated sewage spilled out of combined sewer overflows into the mouth of the River Wear 427 times for 1751 hours. • In 2018 the number of times the South Tyneside CSOs with EDMs fitted overflowed into the rivers Tyne and Don amounted to 823 times. The total hours the CSOs flowed into local watercourses totalled 2958.5 hours. • In 2018/19 the total rainfall for the period was a relatively light 484 mm yet the Hendon treatment works overflowed untreated sewage into the sea on 89 days of that year Anonymous WQR0009 Overview of sewage treatment capacity deficiencies in South Tyneside. The sewage treatment works (STW) at Hendon, Sunderland is supposed to treat the wastewater generated by the residents of Cleadon, East Boldon, Whitburn and the main part of North and South Sunderland in line with The Urban Waste Water Treatment (England and Wales) Regulations 1994. The Hendon STW does not have the capacity to deal with the volumes of wastewater generated by the population it is supposed to serve. The sewage undertaker relies on huge discharges of untreated wastewater into the local watercourses and the North Sea so the STW does not get swamped with sewage. Historic local campaigns against Sewage Pollution In October 2001 a public inquiry took place into levels of permitted sewage discharge into the sea on a stretch of the North-East coast. Representatives from Northumbrian Water said the extra provision it sought was needed only occasionally, during periods of heavy rainfall. It believed the new treatment centre at Hendon was capable of coping on all but a handful of days a year. The inquiry, overseen by inspector Rupert Grantham, lasted for three weeks at the Seaburn Marriott Hotel in Sunderland. The Inspector recommended discharge permits be issued but with strict conditions attached. Campaigners regarded this as only a partial victory in the struggle against sewage pollution. European Court of Justice are called in to help. Proceedings to tackle sewage pollution were also taking place in the year 2000 at a European level. These proceedings took 12 years to reach a conclusion and in October 2012 Stephen Hughes, Labour MEP for the North East Region celebrated the European Court of Justice’s decision against the UK government for non-compliance with EU environmental legislation in allowing sewage to be discharged into the North Sea from Whitburn. (Case C301/10 - European Court of Justice.1) Present situation regarding continued non compliance with Urban Waste Water Treatment Legislation After the ECJ decision, remedial work was planned to bring the Whitburn system into compliance with the UWWTD. (This same ECJ decision brought about the £4.1 billion investment to build London’s super sewer) 1 http://curia.europa.eu/juris/document/document.jsf?text=&docid=128650&pageIndex0&doclang=EN&mode=lst&d ir=&occ=first&part=1&cid=419039 Anonymous WQR0009 Despite the eventual £10 million investment in 2017, the Whitburn sewage system discharged 760,993.5 tonnes of untreated sewage discharged via the Long Sea outfall at Whitburn in 2019. Discharges were made 75 times over 24 days. This showed no improvement and could qualify as a deteriorating situation when you consider part of the remedial work was to divert a large amount of surface water away from the system In 2020 the Whitburn system was still regarded by the European Commission as not complying with EU environmental legislation. Untreated sewage continues to be discharged in light to moderate rainfall in the absence of exceptional circumstances. It is the view of the European Court of Justice that failure to treat urban wastewater cannot be accepted under usual climatic and seasonal conditions, as otherwise the Urban Wastewater Treatment Directive (91/271) would be rendered meaningless. The European Commission informed the UK authorities in October 2020: "Given the continued elevated level of spills since December 2017, both in terms of frequency and quantity, the Commission is of the opinion that the main elements of the judgment of the Court in case C- 301/10 with regard to Whitburn have not been met. " Anonymous WQR0009 Evidence of sewage discharges in light rainfall in 2020 (Not exceptional circumstances) In the first 6 months of 2020 a modest 92.4 mm of rain was recorded at the nearest weather station to Whitburn (Fulwell weather station) and 149,557.50 tonnes of untreated wastewater were discharged. The 15-minute interval rainfall figures for the area for the first 6 months of 2020 have been plotted against the discharge figures for the Long Sea Outfall at Whitburn and the following table produced. Date Rainfall Rainfall Average Volume Volume m3 per mm Period mm Rainfall per discharge rain Hours Hour m3 9/1/20 12.75 14.8 1.16 17850 9/2/20 16 18 1.12 22869 13/2/20 10.5 10.6 1.00 10650 15/2/20 19.75 19.4 0.98 55993.50 24/2/20 6 11.4 1.90 22209 12/6/20 17.5 18.2 1.04 19986 82.50 92.40 1.12 149557.50 1618 The UK Met office use the following to describe rainfall: Light = less than 0.5 mm/hr, Moderate = 0.5 to 4 mm/hr, Heavy = more than 4 mm/hr Results 92.40 mm of rain fell during the first 6 months of 2020 (leading up to and during discharge operations) for a total of 82.5 hours. Anonymous WQR0009 The maximum hourly rainfall during these 6 months fell on 15/02/20 between 17.45 and 18.45 when a cumulative total of 5 mm of rain fell during that hour as follows: 15/02/2020 17:45:00 1.2mm 15/02/2020 18:00:00 1.8 mm 15/02/2020 18:15:00 0.4 mm 15/02/2020 18:30:00 1.6 mm This is the only hour of the 82.5 hours when the rain could be classed as anywhere near as heavy enough to trigger a discharge. The remaining 72.5 hours did not generate the enormous volumes of rainfall that the Environment Agency regards as necessary to trigger the discharge. The average rainfall during these rainy 82.5 hours was 1.12 mm per hour. (Moderate rainfall) For every 1 mm of rain that fell, 1,618 tonnes of untreated wastewater were discharged into the North Sea. This failure to treat urban wastewater under what can be considered as usual climatic and seasonal conditions is not in compliance with either the UWWTD (91/271) or the Urban Waste Water Treatment (England and Wales) Regulations 1994 The position taken by Local Authorities South Tyneside Council are intending to build over 7,000 new homes as per their Draft Local Plan. 2,600 of these homes are proposed to be built on greenbelt sites which have no current sewerage infrastructure. The local authorities in Sunderland and South Tyneside have washed their hands of the issue and defer to Northumbrian Water (NWL) who claim they have the capacity to treat sewage. In reality NWL continue to over rely on disposing of sewage into local watercourses and into the North Sea. NWL also shut down Ultra Violet (UV) treatment of sewage at most of their sewage treatment works over the winter months (October to April). UV treatment kills bacteria and viruses. South Tyneside Council are conveniently ignoring the evidence has been produced and provided to them that refutes this assertion that there are no capacity issues within the wastewater network. They are failing in their statutory duty to ensure that wastewater treatment capacity exists before planning permission is granted as per the Town and Country Planning Act 1990. The councils take the stance that developers have a right to connect to the public sewer system and there is nothing they can do about it.