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Wild swimming? Think again

(229 Posts)
Whitewavemark2 Wed 20-Oct-21 17:04:47

Tories are set to reject the move to stop the water companies from discharging raw sewage into our rivers.

Whitewavemark2 Tue 26-Oct-21 10:43:27

GillT57

well, I have just emailed my MP Bernard Jenkin to thank him for voting against his party and government. Need a lie down now..........

Quite a long rest will be needed.?

GillT57 Tue 26-Oct-21 10:25:39

well, I have just emailed my MP Bernard Jenkin to thank him for voting against his party and government. Need a lie down now..........

Whitewavemark2 Tue 26-Oct-21 09:42:52

Maremia

It's back to the House of Lords today

Yes I meant to post that.

Everything crossed.

Maremia Tue 26-Oct-21 09:19:44

It's back to the House of Lords today

Whitewavemark2 Tue 26-Oct-21 09:02:28

There is an article from a few years back where someone said that the donations meant that there would be a conflict of interest which favoured the companies above the customer.

Seems to be bearing out.

The trouble is with this government is that they do not believe in state regulation so this will continue to be a major issue.

MaizieD Tue 26-Oct-21 08:50:41

Whitewavemark2

Can anyone confirm that for the past 20 years the Water Companies have been donating to the Tory Party?

I have just read this but would like confirmation.

I was wondering about that last night ?

I'm off to google...

Lincslass Tue 26-Oct-21 07:50:00

MaizieD

Lincslass

A view of the Environment Bill for all , truth, not Social Media or wild guessing. Heard this from another Radio Interview also
www.stevebrine.com/news/vote-explainer-lords-amendments-environment-bill-re-storm-overflows

Very interesting, Lincslass. Especially since a great many tory MPs have the same 'explainer' on their web pages with almost identical wording. One would almost think that they were writing it from a script.

What they are universally failing to explain is why there has been a steep rise in the discharge of raw sewage. They also seem a bit coy about mentioning that water companies have been given permission to increase their discharges of raw sewage.

The Environment Agency is a bit more upfront about what is going on, though:

www.gov.uk/government/publications/water-and-sewerage-company-effluent-discharges-supply-chain-failure-rps-b2/water-and-sewerage-company-effluent-discharges-supply-chain-failure-rps-b

Well if it’s an official statement of course it will be the same from each MP. Just trying to get another view of what is going on. Will also be reading the Environment Site, when I have a few hours to spare.

Whitewavemark2 Tue 26-Oct-21 07:31:59

Can anyone confirm that for the past 20 years the Water Companies have been donating to the Tory Party?

I have just read this but would like confirmation.

Lincslass Tue 26-Oct-21 07:17:27

Have written to my water company, Anglian, to get their cobblers on it.

Whitewavemark2 Tue 26-Oct-21 07:00:50

“104 days after been fined £90m for dumping sewage into the environment and less than 12 hours after Gov voted to protect water companies and not our rivers, @SouthernWater were dumping sewage at 60, yes 60, different locations along the south coast of England.”

Whitewavemark2 Tue 26-Oct-21 06:45:33

Eloethan

We can generally depend on this government to be averse to bringing in any measures that contribute to the health and happiness of human beings and other animals.

So true.

I see the government has woken up to the fact that it is on the back foot with this one.

Tory mps are sending out identical explainers to try and appease constituent supporters who are showing a huge amount of anger and alarm.

Eloethan Mon 25-Oct-21 22:48:39

We can generally depend on this government to be averse to bringing in any measures that contribute to the health and happiness of human beings and other animals.

Jaibee007 Mon 25-Oct-21 22:44:38

I get to swim in a London Dock, swam every day in August, never got ill, always seems amazingly clean and fresh smelling to me

MaizieD Mon 25-Oct-21 20:37:02

Lincslass

A view of the Environment Bill for all , truth, not Social Media or wild guessing. Heard this from another Radio Interview also
www.stevebrine.com/news/vote-explainer-lords-amendments-environment-bill-re-storm-overflows

Very interesting, Lincslass. Especially since a great many tory MPs have the same 'explainer' on their web pages with almost identical wording. One would almost think that they were writing it from a script.

What they are universally failing to explain is why there has been a steep rise in the discharge of raw sewage. They also seem a bit coy about mentioning that water companies have been given permission to increase their discharges of raw sewage.

The Environment Agency is a bit more upfront about what is going on, though:

www.gov.uk/government/publications/water-and-sewerage-company-effluent-discharges-supply-chain-failure-rps-b2/water-and-sewerage-company-effluent-discharges-supply-chain-failure-rps-b

Kali2 Mon 25-Oct-21 20:09:33

Just seen the list of MPs who voted for this cr**- well done to the VERY VERY brave Tory MPs who voted against. I take ma hat to them - but so so few of them, sadly.

lemongrove Mon 25-Oct-21 20:03:18

Thanks Lincs well done!?
Essential reading for everyone on this thread.

Baggs Mon 25-Oct-21 19:46:23

Thank you, Lincslass.

Lincslass Mon 25-Oct-21 18:52:43

A view of the Environment Bill for all , truth, not Social Media or wild guessing. Heard this from another Radio Interview also
www.stevebrine.com/news/vote-explainer-lords-amendments-environment-bill-re-storm-overflows

MaizieD Mon 25-Oct-21 18:48:44

lemongrove

Since I have been reading about this subject recently, France and Germany ( amongst other countries) have problems with sewerage in the rivers, including the Seine.So don’t have a dip there either!

The amendment in Parliament ( that was turned down) was turned down for a good reason at the moment.
For years ( including the time we spent in the EU) sewage was allowed to be discharged into rivers so many times a year.
The amendment was about making rivers cleaner post Brexit,
And although a good thing to do, just not the right time.
So, to sum up, it has nothing to do with leaving the EU ( dirty rivers) it was about trying to make them better now that we have left the EU.
At some point in the next few years there will have to be massive amounts spent on new sewers.

For years ( including the time we spent in the EU) sewage was allowed to be discharged into rivers so many times a year.

Absolutely true, but it's diluted sewage. Sewage systems have storm overflow chambers built into them which the sewage normally flows through, but if the amount in the chamber is swollen (and diluted) by excessive rain water the extra is discharged into a watercourse (I have a main sewer running down one of my fields and the storm overflow chamber, on my land, next to the stream that is my boundary). The pipework was replaced about 20 years ago and we don't have half the problem with 'things' (panty liners and worse) in the beck that we had before it was done. So improvements can be made.

The amendment was about making rivers cleaner post Brexit, And although a good thing to do, just not the right time.

Can you explain, without mentioning the fact that Brexit is the cause of the shortage of chemicals for treating the sewage, why this isn't the right time to make the discharge of undiluted raw sewage illegal?

I don't think that the Lords amendment had anything to do with 'post Brexit'. Water companies have been discharging raw sewage illegally for years and years. It can't have been 'illegal' unless there was already legislation in place while we were in the EU. hmm

The Bill sets out a time frame for developing a Plan for preventing the discharge of raw sewage, a year. I, and no doubt others, have little confidence in the government to produce such a Plan...

In the meantime, there was absolutely no good reason to alter the arrangements that already exist for the discharge of sewage into watercourses. The reason for the excess of such material now is the lack of the chemicals to treat it.

Maremia Mon 25-Oct-21 18:05:50

So, do some of you actually agree with the way Westminster has voted on this issue? Do you really think it's a good idea to allow unfettered discharge of raw sewage into our waterways, or are your responses just a knee jerk reaction to a criticism of the Government?

Kali2 Mon 25-Oct-21 17:54:45

mrsgreenfingers56

I read in the paper the other day that wild swimmers and paddle boarders are disturbing the bird life and certain sections on beach/access areas of rivers and lakes are being sectioned off.

true actually- but the relevance to this thread is ???

Whitewavemark2 Mon 25-Oct-21 17:52:33

mrsgreenfingers56

I read in the paper the other day that wild swimmers and paddle boarders are disturbing the bird life and certain sections on beach/access areas of rivers and lakes are being sectioned off.

?

Scones Mon 25-Oct-21 17:43:03

Thanks Peteraapology accepted. smile

mrsgreenfingers56 Mon 25-Oct-21 17:42:24

I read in the paper the other day that wild swimmers and paddle boarders are disturbing the bird life and certain sections on beach/access areas of rivers and lakes are being sectioned off.

Petera Mon 25-Oct-21 17:28:36

Scones

Petera

Scones

The tendency of many on the Left to see those on the other side of the political debate as inherently bad people — even sometimes as something a bit less than human. It is a dispiriting and destructive approach.

I remembered this quote posted by MOnica yesterday when I read Julie Burchill's article on 'woke' in the Mail on Sunday. The dehumanisation and level of hatred poured out in her article, directed at pretty everyone, showed how angry we are all being made by certain people with a grudge/issues.

This is not a left or a right problem. It's a universal problem.

Julie Burchill is on the right. Here is a quote from her last month "any female who has an iota of self-respect would be an idiot to vote for anyone other than the Conservative Party".

It may, or may not be a left/right problem, but Scones' quote starts "The tendency of many on the Left..." So maybe find a better example before congratulating her?

Petera You seem to have missed every point I made I'm afraid.

The quote was not my quote. It was taken from from MOnica's link to an article earlier in this thread.

I wasn't congratulating anyone nor commenting on Julie Burchill's political leaning. I was drawing attention to the battery of hatred towards almost everyone in Julie Burchill's article and how people with an axe to grind - whatever their political persuasion - whip up anger and bad feeling. My point being that this is a universal problem regardless of political orientation.

I may well have done, and I think I mixed you up with someone else who congratulated Monica about her “tendency of many on the Left” post and lumped you in with it. In which case I apologise.

I can, of course, agree with your last sentence. But this is still a political problem -even more so if people believe that, if government swapped with opposition, then the voting pattern would swap too. That's almost the definition of a political problem.