(or even a 15 mls tablespoon) – Owl

This is the question posed by Jo Bateman in response to this little piece of “Greenwash” on the Escape facebook page

Malcolm Green

 Hi. Are you aware that SWW are saying 97% of what they put in the sea is treated

Hello, sewage does not get dumped into the sea – I can appreciate that most people’s first experience of the wastewater network is through media portrayal, and this portrayal is often negative and can cause misconceptions.

Of the millions of litres of sewage that enters the network each day, over 97% of this is treated and we are working hard to lower the other 3%.

The network for this is vast and complex, with over 9000 miles of pipework and over 650 treatment works across the region, and part of this is an essential asset called a storm overflow.

These work as safety valves on the network and are used to prevent flooding into homes and businesses.

These are mostly used during heavy rainfall, and due to the size of the network, it can take many days for this rainfall to work its way through.

Blockages in the network can also see an increase in these, as it stops waste from being able to travel through the network and can cause issues elsewhere.

What is discharged from these overflows is mainly storm water, and any sewage is highly diluted.

You can see more how they work here – https://www.water.org.uk/protecting…/storm-overflows and what we are doing to lower their usage here – https://www.southwestwater.co.uk/waterfit – Kendall

Jo Bee

I think of it like this…

Suppose I filled a bath with 97 litres of water, then added 3 litres of raw sewage. Would you get in? Would Susan Davy?