Work is “absolutely” starting to clean up the Avon from sewage, a government minister has said on a visit to a local sewage treatment works.
Flowing through Bath and Bristol, the river lies at the heart of a number of local beauty spots, is used by water sports clubs and swimmers, and is home to the area’s boater community. But as of 2023, it was rated as the third most polluted river in the country due to the dumping of sewage.
Asked by the Local Democracy Reporting Service when people could swim in the river without worrying about sewage, Water Minister Emma Hardy said: “We’ve absolutely already started working on that now.
“We are working on that through the Water Special Measures Act, which is holding water companies to account if they continue to pollute our rivers, lakes and seas.”
Ms Hardy said the act would ban bonuses for bosses who continue to pollute our waterways, and introduce criminal liability for water companies who obstruct investigations by the Environment Agency. She said: “If there’s wrongdoing, that needs to be punished and that could face up to two years in prison.”
Ms Hardy was on a visit to Saltford Water Recycling Centre on March 10, where Wessex Water is investing £35m to expand the capacity of the site by 40%. She said: “This is a great example of the water sector putting money into industry to make sure that we clean up our rivers, lakes, and seas.”
The sewage works are just a stone’s throw from one of the district’s favourite summer beauty spots, the riverside at the Shallows and Mead Lane in Saltford. Further downstream, there is a popular wild swimming spot as the river flows past Conham Park and into Bristol, which campaigners want designated as a bathing water status.
Ms Hardy had been at Cheddar Reservoir earlier in the day as part of a tour to see where a “record” £104bn of investment by private companies into water infrastructure over the next five years is being spent across the country. Ms Hardy said the investment would ensure the country had the water it needed for the future, and to reduce the sewage going into rivers.
As water minister, Ms Hardy is also responsible for flooding. Asked if the government’s housing targets — which call for 6,833 to be built each year across the Somerset councils — could increase the risk of flooding, Mrs Hardy said: “We are talking to the housing government to make sure that the homes that we build are not at risk of flooding and, more importantly, that those homes do not create a flood risk for other areas as well.”
The government added that the Bridgwater Tidal Barrier is getting £43 million from the flood funding and will help protect 11,300 homes and 1,500 businesses in Bridgwater and nearby areas from tidal flooding when it is up and running in 2027.
The government’s water commission will report in the summer, which is looking at the UK’s privatised water sector and will lead to further legislation to reform the industry.
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