18% of Yorkshire Water’s sewage monitors revealed to not be operating

Councillors have hit out at new Environment Agency data showing that 18% of Yorkshire Water’s monitors measuring the amount of sewage being pumped into the sea are faulty or have not even been installed.

New analysis of Environment Agency has revealed water companies are failing to monitor sewage discharges across the region. The number and length of sewage dumps from storm overflows is measured by Event Duration Monitors (EDMs). However, new analysis reveals water companies have either installed monitors which do not work 90% of the time, or have simply not installed the monitors at all. 

Across Yorkshire, there are 372 monitors installed which did not work for at least 90% of the time, and 28 storm overflows which do not have a monitor installed, meaning we have no idea how long sewage was discharged by Yorkshire Water. At least 9 monitors which check overflows that end up in York’s rivers were found to be faulty.

Water companies are only allowed to dump raw sewage in the most extreme of circumstances, yet shockingly, in 2021 raw sewage was dumped 2,909 times into the rivers in York alone, for a total of 23,839 hours, according to data from the River’s Trust. This is a significant increase from 2020 and in reality, that number could be dramatically higher.

Councillor Paula Widdowson, Lib Dem Executive Member for Environment and Climate Change at City of York Council, commented:

“This is a national scandal as our rivers and waterways are being swamped by foul sewage, and yet the government is nowhere to be found.

“Whilst we have tried to work with Yorkshire Water to address the issue, our pleas have effectively been ignored, with the water company claiming that nothing can be done to stop or at least minimise the use of the 51 storm drains that dump sewage into the Ouse and the Foss until 2030.

“Why on earth is the Conservative Government letting water companies get away with this?

“For decades now water companies have been dumping sewage into the environment. And if the data is as faulty as it seems, the extent of the pollution could be far worse.”