Worksop Parliamentary hopeful explores issue of sewage dumping in the Langold Stream

Jo White joined staff at Cockburn House to walk the Langold Stream, which has a sewage treatment work located close by.

During periods of heavy rain, records show that overflows are released directly into the streams.During her walk, Jo learnt that in 2022 the Langold Stream sewer storm overflow spilled 47 times for a total of 702.16 hours.Records show that it has a high spill count due to infiltration, where sewers are either broken or are of much older constructions which allow excess groundwater into them.Available information also shows that less than 90 per cent of the spill data is available for this site which is attributed to sensor failure.She said: “I began my walk through clear, running water and in disgusting contrast, the stream at the storm overflow had transformed into a dank, murky, smelly flow with evidence of toilet tissues and other waste stuck to the roots and branches on the banksides. It’s a scandal that we are living so close to uncontrolled discharges like these.“Across Bassetlaw, we have other sewage treatment works discharging into water courses during heavy rains including the River Idle, the Maun, Ryton, and Ranskill Brook.

"How can it be acceptable that our rivers and streams become sewage overflow outlets at times of heavy rain?“Currently, there is limited transparency, regulation and oversight of the water industry and we need much tougher legislation to reduce, monitor and control sewage overflows into our streams, rivers and sea.”Jo is backing Labour’s call to change the law with four critical reduction interventions.

These include setting a legal requirement for the monitoring of all sewage outlets and penalties for failures in adhering to monitoring requirements.

Jo is also calling for imposing automatic fines for sewage dumping, as well as implementing a legally binding target to reduce sewage dumping events and a requirement for the Secretary of State to publish a strategy for the reduction of sewage discharges , along with regular economic impact assessments.