Increased usage of unsightly sewage tankers across English towns are villages has led to noise complaints from locals.
Water firms pumped a record 3.6million hours of sewage into rivers and seas in England last year, than double than in 2022.
To plug some of the gaps in sewage capacity, the companies have been forced to send in noisy and polluting tankers into rural England for as long as several months.
The tankers are used to transport untreated sewage from plants which have been overwhelmed to ones which have high capacity to process the wastewater.
They are also used to transport ‘sludge’ and are also brought in during emergencies such as when a sewer burst in Exmouth, Exeter before New Year’s Eve, resulting in 240 tanker-loads of sewage being driven from the town in East Devon each day by South West Water as the burst pipes were repaired.
Increased usage of unsightly sewage tankers across English towns are villages has led to noise complaints from locals (file photo of a sewage tanker in Cookham, Berkshire)
Water firms pumped a record 3.6million hours of sewage into rivers and seas in England last year, than double than in 2022
Some of the water companies in England are increasing their use of these sewage tankers, according to data released by the firms to The Times.
South West Water reportedly now has 35 sewage tankers, a rise of more than half compared to nine years ago.
The sharp increase usage of these tankers over the last few years has caused ‘considerable damage to roads and inconvenience to residents,’ in Exmouth, campaigner for End Sewage Convoys And Poollution Exmouth, Andy Tyerman told The Times.
In Norfolk and Suffolk, Anglian Water used sewage tankers as many as 103 times a day in 2023 – the most since they started keeping records in 2015.
On average, the firm carried sewage in tankers a record 48 times every day last year, according to the data seen by The Times.
Co-founder of the Gaywood River Revival group Mark Dye, from Grimston, Norfolk, told The Times that tankers are being used ‘long-term’ by Anglian Water and the people in the area have ‘had enough of their excuses and lack of investment to correct issues’.
Mr Dye found ‘extraordinarily high’ levels of E. coli from Anglian Water manhole covers on the streets in Grimston, as soiled water flows into the Gaywood, a rare chalk stream.
Wessex Water used 1,715 tankers in 2023, a rise from 1,038 the year prior. The firm only used 263 in 2016.
In Kent, Sussex and Hampshire, Southern Water used 231 tanker over 334 days in the 2023/24 financial year, the most in the last ten years. Residents of Southwick, West Sussex told The Times the noisy tankers have impacted them since February.
Student Belle Boersma, 24, told the paper that the sewage trucks have been an ‘ongoing nightmare’ as they have caused major roads the be closed off. She also slammed the communication from the water firm with locals as ‘completely unacceptable’.
Total hours water companies in England leaked sewage into rivers, lakes and the sea in 2023 shown by the areas they cover
A tanker is pictured at Thames Water’s Mogden sewage treatment works in Isleworth, west London
In this aerial view, discharge is seen flowing into the River Thames at Crossness sewage treatment works in London on March 27
Southern Water says that more than 750 billion litres of rain fell on Sussex from December to March which left the area saturated with groundwater, so the tankers were needed to reduce pressure on the sewers.
Southwick Green ward councillor Robina Baine told The Times that the noise from the tankers has caused problems with sleep for residents and even forced some to move in with family in other areas. She added that the tankers had damaged the pavements.
Alex Saunders, Southern’s head of wastewater networks, told The Times: ‘We use tankers during emergency repairs to sewers to prevent pollution. We know they are noisy and disruptive and we always work as quickly as is safe in order to minimise impact.’
The Times reported that the replacement of 800 meters of sewer networks will be replaced this week which will alleviate some of the problems.
An Anglian Water spokesman told the paper: ‘This has been the wettest winter on record for the east of England. The ongoing issues at Grimston are caused by an infiltration issue from both surface water and groundwater into our sewers and also via the lateral pipes from people’s homes.’
Northumbrian Water and Yorkshire Water said that the number of tankers they had used had not changed in the past few years.
Some companies did not release the figures to The Times in their environmental information requests, with Thames Water saying the request was ‘too vague’.
Severn Trent claimed not to hold the information and United Utilities said it was not classed as ‘environmental information’.