Anglian water today published their new on-line map showing, in near real time, the status of each of their “storm overflow” outlets from the sewage system.
The map links to details of sewage releases from those outlets that are fitted with automatic reporting equipment. Not all outlets have monitors fitted and releases from those outlets remain unrecorded.
The storm overflows along the Gaywood river showing in the map comprise the outlet at the Grimston Sewage treatment works (or as AW prefer to call it “Water Recycling”) and one near where the river goes under Morrisons and the station before emerging into The Walks.
As well as not covering other outlets, discharges from drains, manholes and other parts of the infrastructure including all the discharge points that have been so active this spring in Grimston , Pott Row and Roydon will continue to discharge without any form of measurement and they will be unrecorded unless local people continue to report issues to the Environment Agency.
Anglian Water says that they have made improvements to the way they operate and reduce storm overflows. “Central to this has been the introduction of Event Duration Monitors (EDMs), which measure how often and for how long storm overflows discharge into the environment. EDMs ensure we have the data and insight needed to address and reduce storm overflows discharging across our network.”
Concern remains that the monitors only report event how long the discharge went on, and not how much sewage was allowed to run into our rivers and sea.
To be fair, this map data is a positive step forward on the road to eliminate sewage spills but it certainly doesn’t’t solve the problem. As ever Anglian Water and all the other water companies talk about their plans rather than their action.