UK government doesn't stop sewage being pumped into sea

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The UK is still a nice country. I wish I could live there----but not in some of Greater London.

I remember when I was young we used to go to the local beach and stick fireworks into the turds. Light the blue touch paper and retire… a very long distance.

Tourists poop on the trail and beach of the river here.Seen it ,and once didn’t , stepped it heading down the trail to the river on an early morn.We had been drinking the night before, canoe trip.If I could have found that tourist….
Locals know better. Go in the woods and put a rock over so no one steps on it .

Aiming to move near to the coast in the south/south west sometime probably in the next 5-10 years. I am moving in 2 months time and that will be last move in this area. I need to hunt out an affordable coastal village to keep my eye on and visit sometime.

It is appalling that we have this situation currently but there are reasons that the government can't simply 'do something' about it.

Basically our sewer systems are antiquated. Most modern countries separate out sewerage and rainwater run-off. Britain looked into doing this a few decades back and decided it was too expensive.

The reason we are pumping raw sewerage into the sea now is because we had months of dry weather followed by torrential downpours.

When these conditions occur water companies are allowed to pump raw sewerage into the sea to avoid it flooding out of drains into our streets which would be a much worse public health issue.

So the only thing we can do is invest in our water infrastructure but the cost of doing it is genuinely crazy and it would mean peoples water bills going up significantly to pay for it. And people are struggling to pay their bills atm as it is.

Basically it's yet another example of decades of under investment in public utilities (compounded by rampant privatisation) coming back to bite us in the bum.

That's exactly what Brunell had in mind when designed that bridge

They should be able to do something about it. They are the government.

I thought it was happening because the water companies couldn't get the chemicals to treat the sewage because it's too hard to trade with nearby European countries now, so they just don't treat it.

Hm...who's been in government for the last 12 years, now let me think...I wonder if they could have done something about this situation during those 12 years...

The UK government led by the Tories is the worst thing imaginable for public services. This doesn't surprise me.

I second that.

I thought I saw in textbooks when I was a child: that simply building a longer pipeline that pumps out the sewage further into the ocean solves the problem.

I dont know why they are not doing that.

I thought the point was to treat the sewage so it isn't harmful anymore. I don't think putting sewage in the sea is a good idea, it'll poison everything.

In other privatised services news, Avanti was somehow just awarded a 7-digit performance bonus for a year where they canceled nearly 8% of their train services, more than any other operator in the country. Efficiency! Value for money! And they call Labour crazy for wanting to renationalise when the contracts run out.

I doubt that you could see the difference. Water can be dangerous and look clear. The turbidity can have many causes.

Actually I enjoyed living in London better than in a country village. In London there is a wide variety of people, they are generally openminded and helpful. In country villages people tend to be all white, middle class, straight, conservative...and often very prejudiced against people who don't fit those categories.

I made lots of friends in London, but only one in this village.

However I must add, I lived in London before 9/11, it's probably a lot more scary there now.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-suffolk-63681034

How, exactly, are chemical supply chains squeezed by brexit?

Either there's supply available for sale that can be shipped and delivered or there isn't.

How does the uk's status, whether in or out of the EU, change the supply of chemicals they can buy to treat sewage wastewater?