Following on from our report earlier this year, we’ve found that just one sewage pumping station on the shore of Windermere dumped more than 143million litres of sewage into the lake between 2021-2023. Most of the discharges were not reported to the Environment Agency at the time
So pleased that tonight’s
@BBCCountryfile
’s is dedicated to chalk streams. They’re rare, rich ecosystems (nearly all are in southern England) but they’re struggling from many problems including pollution & abstraction. At their best, you wouldn’t want to be anywhere else!
I think a
@BBCTheOneShow
film we made on the developers netting trees, hedges and even - as we’ve seen recently - sand cliffs(!) goes out tonight, 7pm, BBC1. Below is an example I spotted just this weekend near Stratford-upon-Avon...
Last year the
@EnvAgency
in NW England did not attend ANY of the reported 283 water company pollution incidents. In the same year
@unitedutilities
posted its best ever pollution incident figures.
As you’ll see in tonight’s Panorama, we don’t think that’s a coincidence.
BBC1 8pm
On tonight’s
@bbctheoneshow
we’re talking sewage after a day of shocking headlines. While sewage dumping is all too common, the EA’s monitoring of water quality has massively declined. Which is why rowers & even Olympians are now getting involved! BBC1, 7pm this evening…
Following the
@BBCCountryfile
last night, Thames Water briefly stopped discharging untreated sewage from Chesham Sewage works. This reset the duration on their 'spill' map so now it reads just over 4hrs, rather than 1944hrs. (Or 2250hrs+ in 2024 as shows!)
Drax’s wood-fired power station, which provides about 5% of the UK’s electricity, has been burning wood from rare ‘old-growth’ primary forests in British Columbia.
#BBCPanorama
#Drax
#OldGrowth
Tonight on
@BBCCountryfile
I’m back on the sewage trail, this time around Lake Windermere.
Last year, sewage was ‘spilled’ into the environment for over 2.6m hours in England. But we’ve seen evidence that some water companies aren’t declaring all their spills... 6pm tonight, BBC1
In the water company pollution incident reports I read, it's remarkable how the water company often does NOT sample the polluting sewage itself but samples the watercourse at an undisclosed location to provide 'evidence' of 'no impact'. This was normally unchallenged by the EA.
On
@BBCCountryfile
this weekend I’m investigating Europe’s biggest wildlife crime & the world’s most trafficked creature. Big demand in the Far East creates huge profits for smuggling networks & organised crime. What is it they’re after? European
#eels
!
Sun, 7pm, BBC1
@EelGroup
This morning Chesham Sewage works passed 1900hours (11+wks) in its CONTINUOUS discharge of untreated sewage into the River Chess chalk stream. It’s illegal. And it’s not just happening there. What is going on?
@BBCCountryfile
, tomorrow eve (Sun) 7.15pm, BBC1
My new co-presenter ‘Glory’ working on her selfie game.... on
@BBCCountryfile
tonight I get to film with (as you can see) the cutest sheep in the world and the loveliest of farming families. 7pm, BBC1
Thanks to everyone who tuned in to our River Pollution Scandal
@BBCPanorama
on Monday. We broadcast at fairly short notice so couldn't publicise it but it's on iplayer now so please share with anyone you think will be interested:
It seems this is a way to avoid scrutiny & accountability. The
@EnvAgency
wouldn’t give
@BBCPanorama
an interview, didn’t answer many of our direct questions & then just writes a blog after broadcast.
Given I can’t challenge in an interview, here are my thoughts in response… 1/6
We take our responsibility to protect the environment very seriously.
Yesterday’s Panorama programme discussed our regulation of the water industry and there were some aspects that require further explanation.
⬇
🧵 1/6
Sewage is a big problem in our rivers, but agriculture is even worse, according to the EA: in England over 60% of our failing river water bodies have agriculture listed as a reason. Here’s an example of what it can look like (made even worse by hot weather!):
I’m afraid we have another case of Defra refusing to answer our questions and hitting back with a blog after the event!
The reporting was not inaccurate. The EA’s ‘enforcement outcome’ was a ‘site warning’ issued on 22/03/2024. This happens at the… 1/2
In 2021
@BBCPanorama
filmed with
@WindrushWasp
to expose water companies illegally dumping sewage that should have been treated.
The
@EnvAgency
refused an interview.
Eventually they had to admit the problem & were embarrassed into their ‘largest ever criminal investigation’ 1/2
Millions of litres of raw sewage illegally pumped into Windermere. And it seems, just like the last time it happened, that the Environment Agency didn't thoroughly investigate.
Imagine if, after all the
#SewageScandal
outrage & everything said at
#COP26
, the UK gov once again vote down a proposal to put a legal duty on water companies to reduce
#sewage
pollution & replace it with a weaker substitute in the Environment Bill...🧐 all eyes on Monday!💩
Glamorous it ain’t but it’s mighty encouraging that so many people care enough about our rivers & coast to keep
#sewage
(+
#StoolBritannia
!) trending for days. If you don’t know what the fuss is about I have GREAT news... you can find out on
@ITVTonight
this Thursday!
#ITVTonight
We’ve all moaned about our wet winter but for many farmers it’s been a disaster - the worst they’ve known. Tonight on
@BBCTheOneShow
I’m with farmer Tim Scott whose fields have been too wet to sow. Harvests will be down significantly, but what will that mean for us all? 7pm BBC1
This feels like quite a big moment. From my own experience of spending months examining water company data (with plenty of help!) it appeared that illegal dumping of sewage was widespread & regular. It seems the E.A. is now arriving at the same conclusion.
Two years on our
@BBCPanorama
has revealed the cover-up of water pollution. Again the
@EnvAgency
refused to be interviewed. (
@Ofwat
should also ‘scrutinise WC data & performance’.)
So how long before both regulators are embarrassed into admitting the problem & investigating? 2/2
Tonight on the
@BBCTheOneShow
we’re talking
#drought
. Seems bonkers after recent rain but in much of the south and south-east there are big problems. When I visited the river Granta near Cambridge in Sept, this tiny trickle was the only flow I could find!
#dryrivers
7pm, BBC1
I worry for his blood pressure but an evening listening to
@Feargal_Sharkey
bluntly explain the failure of our water system while passionately rallying the troops to save chalk streams is an evening well spent! If you missed it, will soon be on
@AquiferChalk
website, I believe.
Two months of continuous sewage spills and still going from
@thameswater
's Markyate sewage works. The
#RiverVer
looks and smells disgusting. Bank to bank sewage fungus. Our near neighbour
@RiverChess
is past the 1800hrs mark. No significant rain for weeks.
#chalkstream
!
I have read about 200 pollution reports from last year. There are numerous examples of United Utilities only reporting pollution hrs after the event when the pollution has stopped. This appears to be a permit breach & deliberately obstructive. But no EA legal action on this. 6/6
We’re all set up for a great day’s filming for
@BBCCountryfile
... the sun is shining & the deer are friendly - lovely to get a kiss in the morning when you’re working away on location! 😘 🦌 ☀️
There's a HUGE amount we couldn't fit into our 30min film. For those interested, keep an eye on the Environmental Audit Committee this time next week. They'll be hearing evidence from some key people, some of whom you'll now recognise! There's plenty more detail yet to come out..
Oh dear,
@NorfolkCC
still doesn’t seem to be getting this right. (This is re: the new dual carriageway they’re planning through woodland that is part a significant colony of rare, protected barbastelle bats)
A geeky bats THREAD for those into such things
Tonight on
#InsideOutEast
we’re looking at
#rewilding
. On the Ken Hill Estate in Norfolk, Dom Buscall tells me why they’re setting aside 1000 acres (about a quarter of their land) for nature…
Monday 7.30pm, BBC1 East
@david_insideout
Love this! At Gare du Lyon on my way to Slovenia by train and
@Greenpeace
are clapping and cheering people arriving in Paris by TGV (not plane!): “Bravo, la planéte vous dit merci”
I’m not sure I understand how this works... how is it the chair reprimands the counsellor asking a question and not the counsellor for refusing to answer? Not a great look for accountability and local democracy!
This must be one of the most spectacular failures to answer a question that I've seen yet at Norfolk County Council.
Did building the Northern Distributor Route increase carbon emissions?
@NorfolkTories
, I'd still like an answer, and I'll ask it as many times as you like!
We’re out on patrol with PC Heledd Wynne-Evans from North Wales Police Rural Crimes Team shortly on BBC1, telling off a few dog walkers 😬 plus the very well behaved
@MillieandGriff
and the Clocaenog Dog Club make their
@BBCCountryfile
debut. 7pm, BBC1
The EA’s supposed to check-up on water companies’ self-testing. When the Agency was asked (by FoI) for details of audits of UU’s self-testing, it couldn’t produce any for 2017-2022. And the 2015 audit showed the EA was concerned at the number of ‘no flow’ tests! 3/6
We’re changing the way we regulate the sector:
💧 More than 100 officers have already been trained in carrying out more detailed audits of water companies
💧 Increase of compliance checks
💧 Recruiting more data specialists to make better use of technology
🧵 3/6
On a freezing day back in February we showed
@BBCPanorama
one of the
#Thames
sites where wet wipes & other sewage-related waste is accumulating in huge quantities. The episode looking at river pollution across the UK goes out this eve at 7.30pm!
#EndSewagePollution
#pollution
If half a million litres gets a £4m fine, wonder what will happen if (when?) the new
@EnvAgency
investigation gets round to looking at the BILLIONS of litres illegally dumped in the Thames by the Mogden Sewage Works just last year, as detailed in our
@BBCPanorama
back in April...
Thames Water Utilities Limited has been fined £4 million for discharging an estimated half a million litres of raw sewage into the Seacourt and Hinksey streams in Oxford on 24 and 25 July 2016
Thanks to those who tuned in to
@ITVTonight
yesterday for our air pollution film. Next week we turn our attention from air to water, and the sewage pollution being dumped with remarkable regularity into our failing rivers... Thurs 28th Oct, 7.30pm on
#ITVTonight
We should all be very alarmed at noises from the Environment Agency suggesting a desire to water down environmental regulation and magically reclassify failing rivers as acceptable...
#Brexit
#WaterFrameworkDirective
This is just about the only legislation protecting rivers
1. Why "flag" this to business leaders?
2. A river doesn't need several ecological problems to kill it. One will do.
3. Do we want to lower the standards by which our rivers are judged?
Away from snow related news we’re in the Chilterns tonight on
@BBCCountryfile
and as HS2 is having a significant impact there, we’ll be looking at the compatibility of the government’s dual aims of big infrastructure projects - incl HS2 - alongside a green recovery. BBC1, 7pm...
Suspended sentence and community work... some deterrent! Oh dear...
#eels
#elvers
BBC News - Seafood salesman smuggled £53m worth of live eels out of UK
Hard luck Barnsley, you deserved all 3pts.
#NCFC
were woeful. Can’t make sense of the HT change of system: scrambled our shape & seemed to ruin anything we’d worked on during the international break. Bizarre.
Serious fine but if only this money went into the EA's enforcement budget! Then maybe we'd see widespread every day action against illegality, not just the occasional big case...
Southern Water fined record £90m for deliberately pouring sewage into sea
Delighted we could feature the wonderful work of
@SpecialEffect
on
@BBCTheOneShow
. Hopefully others will follow their lead, making tech accessible. And an honour to meet
@beckyloutyler
- such a bright, impressive (& cheeky!) teenager. Ambitious too... YouTube fame next I suspect!
We have a packed programme for you this evening on
@ITVTonight
at 7.30pm on ITV1. There’s so much to say about the sewage being dumped into our seas & failing rivers and we’ll be hearing from some of the many dedicated campaigners putting the pressure on
#ITVTonight
🧵👇
When yesterday's sewage releases were mentioned on the
@BBCr4today
's report this morning, they said they were 'legal'. But the truth is we don't know. Illegal dumping of sewage has been 'significant and widespread' (says EA's CEO) so we shouldn't default to saying they're legal!
When it comes to hitting pollution targets,
@unitedutilities
doesn’t miss! This is how much the company has been awarded in 'outperformance payments' for low numbers of pollution incidents in the last 8yrs:
2022: £5.1m
2021: £4.552m
2020: £4.864m
2015-19: £16.4m
Total: £30.916m
BREAKING
@NorfolkWT
calls
@transportgovuk
&
@NorfolkCC
to STOP dev of Wensum link
"significant and irreplaceable ecological features of national importance"
Compliance with wildlife laws, planning NOT poss
Biodiversity "net gain" NOT poss
@martinwilby
in full blown denial⬇️
Went to look at the site where a new dual carriageway may well be built across the River Wensum valley near Norwich. This is almost exactly the spot where the four lane viaduct is in the plans. It looked stunning in the low winter sunlight yesterday...
#nofilter
A catalyst for
#rewilding
at Ken Hill could be the reintroduction of the first beavers in Norfolk for hundreds of years. It’s already been done at
@SpainsHall
in Essex and
@arugglesbrise
showed me how they’re transforming his 10 acre woodland
First day back at work after a break can always be a bit challenging but starting out with a cycle up Box Hill with Olympic Champion and World Record holder
@JoRowsellMBE
for
@BBCCountryfile
is another level. Regretting the amount of cheese I’ve eaten in the past two weeks...
Last night on
@BBCCountryfile
we looked at the Oz trade deal. The government says it won’t lower food standards nor let UK farmers be undercut but farmers I spoke to don’t trust them. And perhaps exhibit A: N.Ire & the promise of no border in the Irish Sea partly explains this...
Thread still ongoing but this point is so important on the Northern Ireland protocol. The PM does not believe himself to be bound by laws, and his loyal lieutenants have to find ways to implement this. Which is obviously thankless but that's what they signed up for.
If you’re anything like me, you love camping but always take too much kit. Well... a brilliant solution on tonight’s
@BBCCountryfile
... get ponies to carry it all! Fell Pony Treks get people out to the least visited parts of the Lakes. An historic way to travel - and great fun!
On the banks of the Clyde on the trail of the 48,834 farmed salmon that escaped into the Firth. I’ve seen one of them today... can’t vouch for the other 48,833! Good to speak to
@PollyRose91
and Ian at
@MowiScotlandLtd
. More on
@BBCTheOneShow
soon!
Huge credit to
@Upstreamdry
for continually shouting about this ongoing pollution. As a result it’s finally been declared a cat.1 pollution incident. But next time the EA say cat 1 incidents have declined, worth remembering there isn’t always a Howard around to force the issue...
Pollution update. With ITV film crew today. Pulled out dead bird right in front of
@SouthernWater
contractors by the pathetic pollution mitigation. Rain forecast!
@SouthernWater
say “no evidence of wildlife in distress”
And still the diesel flows 14 day on. Shut off flow NOW!
Tonight on
@BBCCountryfile
I'm taking a trip along the Wye in England and Wales, hearing about the river’s polluted waters & some of the reasons why it’s in a bad way. What’s the solution… a freeze on new homes? Farming restrictions? There's little consensus on the way forward!
Congratulations Port Ellen Primary School! Loved my trip to Islay to see the great work the school is doing - the school & teachers are such a positive energy at the heart of a fantastic community. Huge thanks to
@Skipinnish
for making it such a special occasion!
@TeachingAwards
For good reason, many fear the Environment Bill going through Parliament will actually weaken regulation. The detail really matters. Much more to come on this...
Has there really been a U-turn on sewer overflows?
If Defra sticks to the wording on their website it'll mean a weaker law: "progressive reduction in the adverse impacts".
Currently the law says there is an "absolute obligation to avoid spills save for exceptional circumstances".
Cracking ep of
@BBCCountryfile
this Sunday. Very familiar territory for me - the unbeatable north Norfolk coast. The whole programme comes from the
@HolkhamEstate
: pink-footed geese, sugar beet, conservation grazing, ghost ponds, Holm Oaks and much more! Tomorrow at 6pm, BBC1
The desperate state of our failing rivers and the lack of ANY progress here is, sadly, not surprising. At the highest level there is no real desire to tackle our broken water system. NGOs can't do it alone!
@drjaninagray
&
@Feargal_Sharkey
both spot on...
There was so much we couldn’t fit into our River Pollution Scandal
@BBCPanorama
last yr. Glad some of that data has finally had an airing here, along with new info collected&analysed by the meticulous
@watervole3
&
@WindrushWasp
Credit to the lovely team behind tonight’s
@BBCCountryfile
blanket bog film. Rarely do we get two days of such unrelenting wet and cold misery but no complaints from anyone. (Well done
@tomheapmedia
for missing this one!) And no, that’s not Chris Tarrant on camera! 😂🎥 ☔️ 💨 🐄
On tonight’s
@BBCTheOneShow
we’re looking at the recent escape of nearly 50,000 farmed salmon from a
@MowiScotlandLtd
farm amid fears over the impact the escapees could have on the fragile wild salmon population (7pm, BBC1)
Depressing tweet alert! Just as progress on protecting & restoring our rivers has failed, so too has action to improve our SSSIs. A familiar pattern of shifting goalposts and lack of political will. The only certainty regardless of any rhetoric: our environment is not a priority.
In 2010 Govt set a target to get 50% of all SSSIs in England into "favourable condition" by 2020.
In 2018 the Govt set a new target: 75% SSSIs in favourable condition by 2042.
The % of SSSIs in favourable condition dropped from 44% in 2003 to 38.9% in March 2020. Progress!
“The available evidence suggests that the impacts of the proposed NDR Western Link on this nationally significant barbastelle population cannot be adequately mitigated or compensated for and we have significant concerns about this scheme”
@BBCCountryfile
Last night on
@BBCCountryfile
, we reported on the measures built to mitigate the impact of developments on the natural world. Many of these mitigation measures (often costing taxpayers £millions) are built when there’s no evidence they work! (starts:17.22)
A devastating but hard to tackle wildlife crime so well done
@cpsuk
@UKBorder
&
@NCA_UK
for this result! Credit as always to
@EelGroup
&
@SEGandrewK
for tireless campaigning & corralling. A v good start to the weekend!
🚨The Green Energy Scandal Exposed on
@BBCPanorama
starts in one hour! 🚨
@TimRobinsonTV
and I travel to British Columbia to check out some of
@DraxGroup
’s sustainability claims.
8pm,
@BBCOne
in England, 10.40pm in Scotland, Wales & N.Ire and shortly after on the
@BBCiPlayer
The plight to protect European eels is a Europe-wide effort. EU law underpins it and Europol, led by the work of SEPRONA (the Spanish wildlife crime unit ) + many euro forces, police it. Corralled & lobbied by the superb UK-founded
@EelGroup
. Long may that cooperation continue!
So sorry to hear this. Growing up in Norfolk, John Wilson was a childhood hero & inspired my love of fishing through his TV series. Anyone could watch & enjoy Go Fishing because he had such a lovely, warm chuckle - you’ve never seen a man laugh more - it was infectious. A sad day
We're sad to hear of the passing of Angling legend John Wilson. A man who gave us all incredible fishing memories with his famous Go Fishing series.
John you will be hugely missed by everyone in the angling world. Rest in Peace.
Really saddened and dismayed to learn that BBC has cancelled the autumn run of Inside Out. Worth remembering this is the ONLY regional current affairs programme in England. It should be at the heart of public service broadcasting. It broadcasts an astonishing number of 1/2
⭐️ National
@TeachingAwards
2021 - Lifetime Achievement Award - WINNER: Marie Lindsay!
Marie has been outstanding and has dedicated her life to the service of her pupils, staff and parents.
Congratulations Marie! 👏❤️
#TheOneShow
|
@joe_crowley
|
@ronanofficial
Tonight on
@BBCTheOneShow
we’re talking treasure with the
@britishmuseum
. And I get to meet prolific mudlark Caroline Nunneley (check out her IG profile - carolinenunneleymudlark - and you’ll see what I mean!)
The government says it will make the water industry report more regularly and be more transparent. But there are already many transparency obligations on the industry which it is often failing to meet. As ever it's often about enforcing what exists...
Approaching 10mm of rain in London.
Are sewers at capacity?
Is untreated sewage flowing into rivers?
Thames Water won't tell us.
The law says they should.
The Aarhus Convention says they should.
Once a year updates on sewer discharges breaks both the letter & spirit of the law.
Tonight on
@BBCCountryfile
we’re in Ballycastle, Northern Ireland. A little wet & blustery at times but the food more than made up for it, as you’ll see... the smoked pollan was immense! 6.10pm, BBC1
Excellent work from
@sandralaville
&
@niamh_mcintyre
in
@guardiannews
investigating the shocking levels of sewage being dumped in rivers last year. A must read if you care about our environment to understand just how broken our system is in England.
John Ebbage from
@NaturalEngland
hopes 5 or 6 big estates in west Norfolk will
#rewild
significant areas to link up existing wildlife hotspots. Collectively this could end up as the largest lowland rewilding project in England…
@wildernorfolk
As we enter the darker days of autumn, tonight on
@BBCCountryfile
we’re transporting you back to warmer, brighter times with an ‘Adventures’ ep we filmed at the end of August. Accompanied by the remarkable
@JoRowsellMBE
I’m attempting my first cycle up Box Hill... 😬 🚲 🥵 ☀️ 😓
If you could save someone's life - really, actually save their life - with minimal effort, would you?
Because if you're 16-30 (or know someone who is) just by watching this film & then joining the
@AnthonyNolan
register, you might just save the life of someone like Jo...
Thanks to everyone who tuned in to our
@BBCPanorama
The Green Energy Scandal Exposed.
If you missed it, you can watch on
@BBCiPlayer
below.
If you’re outside the UK I believe a version will be broadcast internationally... I’ll try to post when & where!
Interesting
@DefraGovUK
rely on a report commissioned by the water industry for costs. Could it be it's not entirely objective? Possible that the water industry place prohibitively high costs on things they don't want to do? How are we to know? Where's an independent gov report?
.
@Feargal_Sharkey
claims are wrong. Amendment to
#EnvironmentBill
puts more protections in place against water pollution than ever before.
We are strengthening law so water companies must act to reduce harm from sewage overflows.
It’s the
#AnthonyNolanAwards
and the wonderful
@lucysiegle
is at the helm brilliantly guiding us through it all. Such a special evening celebrating the tremendous people doing their outmost to save lives and fight blood cancer.
In the north-west of England (EA areas: GMC & CLA) last year the
@EnvAgency
received reports of 283 water company pollution incidents that the Agency estimated were Cat1-3, including 19 that were potentially serious (Cat1+2). It did not attend a single one of those incidents. 4/6
We receive between 70,000 and 100,000 incident reports every year.
We respond to each one of them and attend those where there is significant risk.
Increasingly we're able to use off-site data checks and technology from a range of different monitoring sources.
🧵 4/6