Anglian Water - Gaywood River Revival

Sewage release data goes live

Leave a Comment / 1 May 2024 / Anglian Water, outlet, overflow, Sewage, storm

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.

Anglain Water’s sewage map (click to see the live map)

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.

Sewage release data goes live Read More »

Testing vials showing phosphate, niitrate and ammonia levels at Anglian Water STW in Grimston, Norfolk

Spot checks reveal phosphate levels below Grimston STW almost double permitted levels

Leave a Comment / 13 September 2023 / Ammonia, Anglian Water, Chalk stream, Gaywood River, Gaywood River Revival, Grimston, Nitrate, Phosphate, Pollution

As new data suggests the Environment Agency has failed to monitor water firms in England, spot checks by Gaywood River Revival can reveal that phosphate levels below the Grimston Sewage Treatment Works (STW) are almost double permitted levels.

On Tuesday evening during a period of moderate rainfall (18mm), our testing team recorded phosphate levels of 9.78mg/l for treated water exiting the Anglian Water STW into the Gaywood River above Sites of Special Scientific Interest (SSSIs) at Sugar Fen, Derby Fen and Leziate Fen.

With the permitted level for phosphates in discharged treated water from the Anglian Water site being a maximum of 5mg/l, the levels were shocking to our water testers who knew they were about to receive bad news when testing vials turned a dark moody blue.

Phosphate readings from Grimston STW in Norfolk — Grimston STW phosphate levels for treated water were almost double those permitted. Level shown is multiplied by 0.3261

Our water testing team also recorded ammonia and nitrate levels of 3.68mg/l and 50ppm respectively and notes that these chemical levels will be overloading the water with nutrients downstream as it meanders towards the SSSis, thereby disrupting the ecosystem of this rare chalk stream.

Levels of rainfall were not exceptional in Grimston on Tuesday evening when spot checks took place outside the Anglian Water facility in Norfolk, so the results are both surprising and disappointing.

However, they do seem to tally up with a story in the Guardian, where the journalist Sandra Laville reveals that 36% of audits on water firms since 2010 are missing. This suggests that many companies, such as Anglian Water, who self-monitor may not be accurately recording how their treatment works are functioning.

Significantly, the report in the Guardian has used FoI data to confirm that 42 audits out of 117 are missing from annual inspections of the nine water and sewerage companies since 2010.

As an independent testing group Gaywood River Revival is keen to ensure all water companies abide by their permits and has passed on its results to the Environment Agency (incident ref: 2187190).

Gaywood River Revival has been documenting the health of the Gaywood River since Autumn 2021 and now conducts regular spot checks of this chalk stream during both dry periods and periods of rainfall at specific points along the river.

As we look to preserve the Gaywood river eosystem for future generations, we are also working hard to change attitudes towards abstraction and dredging, two of the other major issues this rare chalk stream currently faces.

Read about calls to stop chalk stream dredging near Grimston in this report from the BBC.

Spot checks reveal phosphate levels below Grimston STW almost double permitted levels Read More »