Giant toilet deposited by Cam during two-day sewage dumping protest
Environmentalists staged two days of protests against Anglian Water dumping sewage in local rivers, prompting the water company to state they had heard the message “loud and clear”.
The protesters gathered outside the water company’s Huntingdon base on 13 September, and then on Jesus Green in Cambridge on 14 September, where a samba band provided entertainment, and LeftyMenSing sang their river shanty: ‘What shall we do with our shrunken river?’
“The actions were planned by Extinction Rebellion with the support of Friends of the River Cam,” said protester Tony Booth. “The giant toilet made its first outing proclaiming on its seat: ‘Your money down the pan’.
“Saturday was all about taking the message to the public in Cambridge, by the lock on Jesus Green, about the pollution of the Cam, the iniquities of Anglian Water and what people can expect from the government’s new Water (Special Measures) Bill. A hundred signatures were collected for a letter calling on MP Daniel Zeichner to put greater pressurise on Anglian Water to stop sewage dumping.
“There was lots of engagement from people out for a day in Cambridge and from local river users who wanted to paddle board, canoe, punt and swim in a clean river. People and particularly children found the giant toilet and poos very funny and understood their point immediately.”
Earlier this year Anglian Water has come under fire after figures revealed sewage was dumped into the River Cam for more than 4,400 hours in 2023.
Data published by the Environment Agency (EA) reveals there were 172 spills from Haslingfield in 2023, up from 42 in 2022. The duration of the sewage spills had also increased tenfold from 298.5 hours in 2022 to a whopping 2,935 hours in 2023, the figures show.
In Cambridge, there were 74 spills into the Cam from the waste water treatment works in 2023, which lasted for a duration of 1,476 hours, meaning sewage was being dumped in the river for 17 per cent of the year.
In total, the Cam was receiving sewage from these two sources for 4,411 hours.
Extinction Rebellion spokesperson Ros Keneally said: “Our actions went really well over the two days. People are enraged about the pollution of the Cam, and find it bewildering that so little has been done about it.
“Anglian Water may claim that it is about to spend a billion to clean up the rivers but why hasn’t this happened before? And who will pay? The same thing goes for government action, the laws are there to apply harsh penalties on the criminal actions of the companies yet at the same time money for regulation has been cut.
“There are some new words in the Water Bill but we need to see action now. Otherwise, the Bill will become another delaying tactic.”
An Anglian Water spokesperson said: “We’ve heard loud and clear from our customers, communities, passionate river groups and our regulators that we need to take action to address storm overflows. We agree that storm overflows are no longer the right solution when sewers become overloaded with rainwater. If approved by Ofwat, our business plan from 2025 proposes almost £1bn into directly tackling storm spills – our largest investment ever.”
