Alan Page calls for end to flushing our toilets into local rivers

Liberal Democrat candidate for York Central Alan Page is calling for immediate action against sewage dumping in local rivers and becks by Yorkshire Water.

There are over 50 locations in York Central constituency where raw sewage is dumped into local watercourses when the sewer system fails. Due to the recent heavy rain on 22 May 2024 around half of these ‘Combined Sewer Overflows’ operated. (Combined sewers have a mixture of foul and surface water which includes waste from things like toilets, sinks, showers and washing machines).

Many areas across York are affected with some of the recent sewer discharges taking place in:

Sewer Location                                                Discharged sewage for

Heworth Green                                                 4hrs 44 mins

Marygate Landing                                             1hr 25 mins

Rawdon Avenue (Tang Hall)                             5hrs 52 mins

Poppleton Road                                                 4hrs 1 min

Foss Islands                                                       5hrs 17 mins

Alan Page said “It is a complete scandal. For too long Yorkshire Water have got away with flushing our toilets straight into local rivers and becks. This week the sewers overflowed for hours with raw sewage being discharged into our two main rivers along with Holgate and Tang Hall Becks.”

Less than a month ago MPs including both the outgoing representatives from York voted for measures which put water companies bottom lines ahead of stopping the sewage crisis. Alan continued “Local people are furious that Labour and Conservative politicians voted to weaken the already far from perfect regulator Ofwat. They expect their MPs to stand up for the environment and not the profits of big, privatised utility companies.

“Liberal Democrats are calling for tougher action to stop sewage being dumped in local rivers including replacing Ofwat with a regulator that has real teeth to clamp down on these polluting firms. We have also called for a ban on bonuses for water company fat cats whose firms have pumped filth into our waterways."