The government says water companies are discharging ‘unacceptable levels of sewage into our rivers, lakes, and seas’
The government says water companies are discharging ‘unacceptable levels of sewage into our rivers, lakes, and seas’
The River Mersey had almost 20,000 sewage spills make their way into its waters last year, according to figures from the Rivers Trust.
Spills made either directly into the iconic river or its tributaries ran for over 106,000 hours in 2024, making their way into its catchment area.
These figures are an improvement on 2023, when there were nearly 27,000 spills lasting over 171,000 hours.
The country’s sewage network empties both treated sewage and overflows of untreated sewage mixed with storm water into rivers and waterways.
The vast majority of these dumping points are monitored throughout the year, with the number of spills and the duration of the spills reported annually.
Many of the long duration spills in our region happened in Wirral. Bromborough wastewater treatment works had the most spills of any location in Merseyside.
The site – on the Mersey estuary upstream from Liverpool – emptied into the river 187 times last year for a total of 2,537 hours. That’s equivalent to running non-stop for 106 days.
Birkenhead wastewater treatment works, meanwhile, had 160 spills, running for a total of 1,982 hours (equivalent to 83 days).
A site at Dock Road South, Bromborough, had 137 spills running for a combined total of 1,424 hours (equivalent to 59 days).
North Wirral wastewater treatment works had 180 spills running for 1,286 hours (54 days), and Wallasey had 186 spills running for 1,140 hours (48 days).
There were 563,730 spills across England and Wales in 2024, according to figures from the Rivers Trust. It works out at an average of 1,544 a day. That is down from 1,588 per day in 2023.
Last year’s spills ran for a combined total of 4.55 million hours. It is the equivalent of a tap running constantly for 520 years, which would take you back to around the time Henry VIII was on the throne.
You can see how many spills have occurred in your local area by using our interactive map:
Matt Hemmings, Chief Operating Officer at United Utilities, said: “Our teams right across the North West have been working extremely hard to make the improvements that people want to see benefit their local rivers, watercourses and bathing waters.
“From increasing storage on sites to looking at bespoke solutions such as sustainable drainage and new innovative ways of treating wastewater to even higher standards, we are starting to see the impact our investment is making, and this is helping us make great progress in reducing spills and improving river health.
“We are now embarking on the largest ever investment programme in our infrastructure that will see the biggest overhaul of the region’s sewer network in a century.”
The number of spills into rivers has been condemned by the government. Environment Secretary Steve Reed said: “These figures are disgraceful and are a stark reminder of how years of underinvestment have led to water companies discharging unacceptable levels of sewage into our rivers, lakes, and seas.
“We’ve already placed water companies under tough special measures through the landmark Water Act, banning unfair bonuses for polluting water bosses and introducing criminal charges for lawbreakers.
“But we will go further and faster. That’s why this government has secured over £100 billion of private sector investment to upgrade our crumbling infrastructure and not only clean up our rivers, lakes and seas for good, but also help deliver economic growth across the country as part of our Plan for Change.”
