Sewage was dumped into the Gaywood River 118 times last year for a total of 288 hours.
According to figures published by The Environment Agency, by far the worst offender on the river was the sewage treatment works at Pott Row Where untreated sewage was deliberately released into the Gaywood River 16 times last year for a reported total of over 180 hours. This is in addition to the treated sewage water which is continuously released into the river all year round.
Untreated sewage is also released from. Outfalls at Highgate and from a number of locations around the Millfleet although that data is incomplete since Anglian Water don’t yet monitor sewage releases at all locations.
The data gives a partial picture but the number of releases and the duration of those releases only tell part of the story. Unfortunately, there is no way of knowing the actual volume of untreated sewage released as no data is given about flow rates.
The Rivers Trust have an interactive map of outfalls at https://theriverstrust.org/sewage-map
These are the recorded releases and do not include the accidental spillages such as those that saw raw sewage flowing down Watery Lane at Grimston, directly into the source spring seven times last year due to pump and pipeline failures and during rainfall.
There is a storm drain that drains the railway under Dodmans bridge.
There is a flap door that opens when a certain amount of water builds up behind it.
Usually comes out black and smelly.
Thanks John. That’s really helpful. We’ll try to build a map showing all the pollution points along the river. It will be more comprehensive and up to date than anything that the Environment Agency has … and it will be publicly accessible!