Sewage season

Tis the season to be jolly and the season of good will, but beware, it is also the sewage dumping season. This is the time of year when water companies discharge most of the untreated sewage they are unable to deal with, legally or illegally.

Most of the time it is not this obvious.

As this is entirely the responsibility of the senior management and owners of water companies, and not the fault of the employees who have to work with the consequences of underinvestment, we send season's greetings and thanks to the staff - we really do appreciate your efforts.

The dumping season varies slightly with weather and groundwater levels but starts around October and ends in March or even April, with the rest of the year delivering some unpleasant surprises but not on the scale we see in those seven months.

Here are some historical results for 2024 from the excellent www.sewagemap.co.uk

They were chosen at random and you can see the seasonal pattern.

You can easily check your local sewage works to see when they are dumping sewage. If you can't access the history for your company via this site, try the also excellent www.topofthepoops.org water company sites and others. Top of the Poops also arranges data by constituencies to help you engage with your MP (a very good idea and more of that soon)

Sewage seasons illustrated by sewagemap.co.uk

Why does it matter? Well as you wander round with friends and family or on your own, especially with dogs and children, or you have just unwrapped your new kayak, paddleboard or fishing rod - or even decide to go for a bracing open water swim, you may stumble across these 'discharge' events without realising what they are- and that is when people and animals are at most risk.

Here are some things to look for to help you avoid contact and contamination because contamination can have very serious consequences.

1. Outfalls

Church Hanborough sewage outfall. Treated on the left, untreated on the right

If you have done your preparation, you should know what is on your route but let's be realistic, you have gone for a walk, not on a mission. So, let's go with what should cause you to shout (charmingly and pleasantly, as the season of good will requires) at aforementioned dogs, children, friends and family, preparing to enter the water for a paddle etc, if any of the danger signs are present.

It is things like this discharge point at Church Hanborough on a small stream near a footpath. Even when the untreated sewage is not flowing, if there is no ultra-violet or other bacteria treatment (and that is very seldom required), it will be fully loaded with E-Coli and other bacteria and viruses that can make you a bit sick, very sick or send you to hospital or in the worst cases, even be life altering or fatal. Sorry for the non-festive reality check but that is the whole point of this blog - avoiding harm.

Some of the bacteria are even resistant to antibiotics. We have already found that in WASP sampling operations.

2. Sewage works.

   If you see something like this on your satellite view of your map on your phone, it is a sewage treatment works.

This is a small sewage works - a big one is easy to recognise - usually the circular tanks with rotating arms are an indicator but on their own the tanks can be slurry tanks etc.

If you see one, be aware, there will be an outfall, most likely to a river or stream. To the sea on the coast or sometimes even to lakes (Windermere is the classic example) and sometimes even to canals.

What else do they discharge in effluent? Chemicals, drugs, hormones, bodily fluids, pee, poo, paper - everything that goes down the toilet, sink, and bath/shower plughole - remember, untreated and even mixed with a lot of rainwater, it is still sewage.

The sewage treatment processes will probably make the treated effluent quite clear but it is very, very far from achieving the 'cleaned water is returned to the river' claims made by water companies and regulators. If you doubt that, ask your nearest water boss if they would be prepared to drink it.

Sometimes the untreated sewage is mixed in with the treated effluent and it can be much harder to tell that it is happening.

3. Manholes surcharging.

4. Discharging from sewers crossing fields

Sewage can even be in fields on a country walk - that is sewage sludge from a blocked main sewer near Guiting Power on the River Windrush. These things are not as rare as you may think.

Another version -This is by a river at Shrivenham and runs who knows where that is running.

Remember, water flows downstream from those sources and that pollution will be diluted but who can tell when the risk has gone?

5. Sewage fungus

Witney, Colwell Brook which runs past Duck Lake

If you see this - it is sewage fungus and it means there is a long term serious sewage spill.

Why are there no signs to warn about the risk, especially at the outfall sources that can even be invisible and under water? Because the water companies don't have to!

So, take care and if you do think you, or particularly a child has ingested sewage or got it in a wound (those things are definitely serious!) you have to make your own decisions so we have set out some of the risks to heighten awareness.

Medical advice and assistance are available - why delay?

Would we let our dogs go in the river downstream of an untreated sewage spill? That's easy - No.

Can we guarantee they won't sneak in anyway? No.

The risk to dogs is hard to judge and there is plenty of anecdotal evidence of dogs getting sick or even dying from sewage contamination, but post-mortem investigation is very rare, so evidence is lacking. They usually have strong immune systems, but they also do pretty extreme things.

Again you have to make your decisions but better to have thought about them first and to avoid the danger, rather than deal with it after it happens. We always wash them off if we suspect an encounter.

That's when knowing the risks from checking the maps will help you keep them out and remember - polluted rivers flood across fields in winter.

And don't forget the risk of immersion after dosing topical tick and flea treatment - it has serious environmental impacts on invertebrate life vital to river health

We hope that wasn't too alarming or depressing but makes you a bit better prepared to avoid and deal with what you should not have to worry about if we had a functional water industry, but we don't - not yet.

But we do know we have good people working in it that are ready when the day comes to stop putting profit before service.

This link may be a useful start if you want to do more research on risks. https://disastercarecapital.co.uk/health-hazards-of-sewage-exposure/#articleContent

And one final thought while we people with access to the present-day alerts can avoid contamination and harm most of the time, the birds and other animals that have to drink from it can't, and the fish that live in it, certainly can't.

This is what the untreated sewage map looks like as this post goes live on 19 December

Screenshot of sewagemap.co.uk

No, we are not going to show you dead fish at Christmas - here are some live ones instead.

Wishing you all happy and safe holidays.

When sewage is treated well, it does support fish ad attracts them with warm water and food particles. What it does to them in the long term is less clear but hormones present from birth control drugs have been found to change their sex