In May last year, Yorkshire Water’s boss Nicola Shaw apologised for sewage discharges into rivers in the region. Yet according to the Rivers Trust, by the end of 2023 the number of sewage spills counted across Yorkshire was over 40% higher than in 2022 and the total duration of spills more than doubled from 232,054 to 516,386 hours.
This mirrors the picture in Calderdale, with a total of 5,873 spills in 2023 lasting for 39,442 hours – more than twice the previous year.
Kieran Turner, Green Party candidate for Calder Valley, said
‘The failure of privatised water companies to invest in sewage management whilst funnelling millions of profits to shareholders is outrageous. The Green Party’s strategy for the water industry starts by bringing water companies back into public hands and investing in renewed infrastructure to end the scandal of our filthy rivers.
‘We would increase funding to the Environment Agency whilst enhancing legal protections for our river environments, empowering the regulators to regulate. And we would ensure that the solutions to sewage and flooding include the restoration of river landscapes so that both people and nature can enjoy safe, clean water again.’