Cotswold river sees sewage pumped into it for more than three weeks

It started discharging untreated sewage on September 23 at 5.30am and has done so every day since. Credit: Google Maps

There are serious concerns sewage has been discharged into a Cotswold river for more than 23 days straight – and counting.

The Cotswolds Rivers Trust said a storm overflow for the sewage treatment works at Fairford has been discharging into the River Coln continuously for more than 560 hours.

It started discharging untreated sewage on 23 September at 5.30am and has done so every day since. The second storm overflow in the market town has been out of action for more than a month.

The Cotswolds Rivers Trust is concerned as it is not the first time the failing sewage works in Fairford have been in the news.

In January, the Thames Water storm overflow pumped sewage into the Coln for more than 900 hours.

“Fairford Sewage Treatment Works storm overflow has now been discharging untreated sewage for over 500 hours straight, meaning untreated sewage has been pouring continuously into the River Coln for over 20 days,” a Cotswolds Rivers Trust spokesperson said.

“The second storm overflow in Fairford has not been working for about four weeks.”

A Thames Water spokesperson said more investment is needed across the entire water company sector.

It added they have plans to upgrade 250 of their sites across the region including the sewage treatment works in Fairford.

“While all storm discharges are unacceptable, the sewage system was historically designed to work in this way, to prevent sewage backing up into people’s homes,” they said.

“We know how much people enjoy and appreciate rivers, and we are committed to seeing waterways thrive, but we can’t do it alone. Farming, industry, road runoff, wildlife and increasingly extreme weather also play a role in river health.

“We have clear and deliverable plans to upgrade 250 of our sites across the region, to increase treatment capacity and reduce the number of storm discharges, including at our Fairford Sewage Treatment Works.

“As infrastructure ages and demand on it increases more investment is needed across the entire sector That’s why we’ve asked for increased investment in the next regulatory cycle between 2025-2030.

“We’ve put transparency at the heart of what we do, and we were the first water company to publish a real-time data map on our website, which in its first year has been viewed over 350,000 times.”