Sewage discharges cause 'toxic cocktail' in rivers

Sewage dumping in a county's waterways over the bank holiday weekend has caused a "toxic and dangerous" bacterial "cocktail", a river campaigner has said.

Following recent thunderstorms and showers, Thames Water carried out storm discharges at sites across Oxfordshire during the three-day weekend.

Campaigner Ash Smith said the dumping was "serious stuff", with rivers having "very little capacity to dilute the highly toxic untreated sewage" due to low water levels caused by the record-breaking summer.

Thames Water said it takes its responsibility to the environment "very seriously", and that the dry weather had increased pressure on the waste-water network.

"During our record-breaking summer, the ground has become hard and is absorbing less rainfall," a spokesperson for the firm said.

"When heavy rain arrives, more water runs off the surface and reaches rivers and sewers quickly, increasing pressure on the waste-water network."

Across the bank holiday weekend, Thames Water carried out storm discharges at Botley, Wheatley, Burford, Milton-under-Wychwood, Kingham and Faringdon.

It comes amid a hosepipe ban implemented by the firm across the region, with the whole of the Thames Valley also currently experiencing drought - a declaration made by the Environment Agency in July, according to the Local Democracy Reporting Service.

Smith, from the Windrush Against Sewage Pollution group, said the low river levels caused by the heat could exacerbate the "serious" consequences of sewage releases for wildlife and humans.

"Bacteria levels will be high, and the entire cocktail will be toxic and dangerous to fish and other animals, including humans," he said.

"Years of neglect and water companies being able to get away with it due to weak and complicit regulation have led us to this awful situation."

Smith has been investigating the polluted River Windrush in the Cotswolds with fellow campaigner Peter Hammond for the past decade.

A petition calling for a referendum on public ownership of water companies started by the pair - who earlier this year provided the inspiration for the Channel 4 docudrama Dirty Business - will be debated in parliament later this month.

Thames Water said it was "committed to playing our part in improving river health".

The firm added that all storm overflows had operated within Environment Agency limits, explaining that they were "heavily diluted by rainwater".

"The system was originally designed this way to prevent sewage from backing up into people's homes during periods of intense rainfall," it added.