Lifeboat volunteer calls for River Severn clean-up after getting sewage-linked parasite

A lifeboat volunteer is calling for cleaner rivers after he was hospitalised with a parasitic infection in Gloucestershire following a training session.

David Deveney became violently ill after training new recruits for the Severn Area Rescue Association just off the charity's station at Beachley, on the River Severn.

He ended up off being work for more than three weeks and was hospitalised twice.

The training session, which happened in 2022, included David becoming fully submerged and he believes sewage in the water is what caused him to become ill.

He has now called for the region's rivers to be cleaned up in an interview with ITV News West Country.

'Absolutely horrendous'

Just hours after the training finished, David said he began feeling "seriously unwell".

"I just felt my head spinning, my stomach bubbling," David said.

"I sat bolt upright in my bed and projectile vomited everywhere... Unfortunately for [my] cat, it was covered in it."

David then suffered three days of vomiting and diarrhoea. He said he had "no physical bodily control", something he described as "absolutely horrendous".

He was found to have contracted giardiasis, a parasitic infection which can be spread by coming into contact with or ingesting contaminated water.

Despite being prescribed antibiotics, David said he was so weak he had to go up the stairs of his home on his hands and knees.

"I had no energy, I couldn't lift my head off the pillow," he said.

His girlfriend Rebecca called an ambulance and he was then taken to hospital.

Following three and a half of days of IV drips and antibiotics, David was discharged but had to be readmitted for a further five days after becoming unwell again at home.

'80% chance it was caused by inhaling human sewage'

He said he was later told by Public Health Wales there was an "80% probability that it was [caused] by human sewage I had ingested, inhaled or absorbed."

He said: "It makes you think: oh God, we are training in this water.

While his illness has not been categorically linked to sewage spills, he hopes his experience will encourage more action to be taken to clean up the River Severn and its tributary, the River Wye, in Gloucestershire.

"Somebody has to hold their hands up and account for it", David said.

"The sewage system in the UK was not built for how many people are now using it."

Almost 70,000 sewage spills by West Country water providers in 2021

David added: "If you are wild swimming, if you are stand-up, paddle-boarding, if you are engaging in any open water activity, you should be allowed to feel safe when doing it."

New data released earlier this month shows there were more than 69,000 spills of raw sewage into rivers by the South West's three main water providers in 2021.

Spills are usually due to exceptional weather, for operational reasons such as maintenance or due to hydraulic capacity.

As someone who believes he was affected by sewage being released into rivers, David says he thinks there needs to be government intervention.

"Unless it comes as a government directive or a government act, I don't think we will ever get it right," he said.

"I think we will still be facing this in a few years to come - or many years to come."

But David says he and other Severn Rescue volunteers will continue to train and work in the river to make sure they are prepared to help save lives.

"We train on that part of the water most of the year, every weekend we are on the boat preparing. It's not pleasant.

"Being involved with the lifeboat and the flood rescue, we do put ourselves in that element of danger or that element of risk, but normally that risk is regarding the weather or the sea state.

"Having that environmental waste sewage thought isn't one of the things we'd normally risk manage or risk assess, but we're now having to."

"We are being a little bit more wary with our training regime: don't put your hands up to your mouth, when you do enter the water try and keep your mouth closed. But needs must, and we still need to train to be as operational and effective as we possibly can be."

What do the water companies say about the issue?

In a statement, Welsh Water said combined storm overflows (CSOs) "play a vital role" in preventing homes being flooded after rain and storms. 

"The operation of our CSOs – which mainly release surface water that enters our sewers due to rainfall – is highly regulated," the firm added.

"We are pleased that our investment in recent years has played a part in helping reduce the number of spills by 10% in 2021 despite us adding monitors to an additional 198 CSOs in the same year. This means that we now have monitors on over 99% of our CSOs."

They added although completely removing all overflows in their system would cost between £9billion and £14billion, they are investing more than £800m in its wastewater network during the five years to 2025 - including £100million to improve overflows.

Wessex Water, which is not responsible for the River Severn, says it is "committed to completely eliminating the discharge of untreated sewage", starting with storm overflows which discharge most frequently and those that have any environmental impact."

A spokesperson said Wessex Water is "investing more than £3 million to reduce storm overflows, with £150million being spent between 2020 and 2025”.

Meanwhile Severn Trent said it is "passionate" about "making a positive impact on the communities and the environment where we live and work".

The spokesperson added: "Our region’s rivers are currently the healthiest they have been since the industrial revolution and we’ve been consistently recognised as a leading UK water company and awarded the very highest four star status by the Environment Agency because of the care we take with our rivers and the environment.

“Combined Sewage Overflows, which are used in storm conditions to prevent flooding in customer homes and businesses, account for 3% of rivers not achieving good ecological status.

"We’re already working hard to use overflows less and we’re investing £100million a year to go even further in improving rivers so that nature can continue to thrive and as part of our Get River Positive approach we intend to make sure that our storm overflows and sewage treatment works do not harm rivers, based on the Environment Agency measures (RNAGS).

“Agriculture and land management are the biggest contributors to rivers and other water courses not achieving good ecological status, accounting for 36% of all river pollutions."