With only around two hundred chalk streams worldwide, they are a precious feature of our natural environment, and I’m highly privileged to have four within my constituency of Harpenden and Berkhamsted. Being waterways uniquely containing mainly spring water, chalk streams hugely enrich their local environment. They keep a near constant temperature all year round and are packed full of minerals, supporting biodiversity, wildlife and complex ecosystems. On a local level, I know they are both highly appreciated and admired by my constituents.
Chalk streams are also almost distinct to England, which contains 85% of the global total. This makes it even more heartbreaking that these rare and valuable waterways are currently under threat. This threat is, of course, from the masses of sewage continuously being pumped into our chalk streams.
We must, now more than ever, take this threat seriously and urgently intervene before more damage is done. That’s why I’m holding a Westminster Hall debate on this issue – to give it the attention it so desperately needs, and that my Liberal Democrat colleagues and I have long been fighting for.
As a local MP I’ve seen the harm sewage dumping has caused in Harpenden and Berkhamsted, and have repeatedly raised this with Thames Water. On numerous occasions the storm overflow at Markyate has seen thousands of hours of overflow with sewage being pumped into one of our local chalk streams, the River Ver. This has not only been catastrophic for the local environment, contaminating the water with unacceptably high phosphate and nitrate levels, but poses a major public health risk. After a recent storm overflow incident, the Ver Valley Society found worrying levels of e-coli in an area of this chalk stream (around Waterend Lane and Redbournbury Watermill) where many families play in the water. This simply isn’t good enough. And on a local level, Thames Water’s planned scheme to resolve this problem by upgrading the storm overflow won’t be complete until 2026. In the meantime, this rapid polluting of the waterway and threat to both health and our local environment will continue.
This is, of course, by no means an isolated issue nor is it specific to our Hertfordshire chalk streams. This problem is nationwide and, quite frankly, the Conservative government entirely neglected to resolve it. We can’t afford a repeat of this under this new government.
Over recent years, the Conservatives stood by whilst water companies in England repeatedly dumped sewage into our waterways. They did nothing to hold them to account whilst, at the same time, water company executives received huge bonuses. The Conservatives watered down “nutrient neutrality” rules aiming to reduce water pollution, and time and again opposed strong measures put forward to bring an end to sewage dumps. This inaction is a disgrace, and I hope the Labour government listens to the concerns and arguments raised in this Westminster Hall debate to prioritise acting urgently to stop this destructive practice.
What I can be sure of is that my Liberal Democrat colleagues and I will continue to do all we can to push for tougher action. We won’t stop drawing attention to this issue and calling for major policy changes: replacing Ofwat with a new regulator with stronger powers to finally end sewage dumping, making England’s water companies public benefit companies, and stopping all bonuses for water executives until this disastrous practice ends. These strong measures are needed, and needed now.
More broadly, we must also preserve biodiversity in our precious chalk streams and their catchment areas by stopping destruction from climate change. We need ambitious action to combat climate change; a rapid shift to renewable energy, and legally binding targets for improving water and biodiversity, amongst other valuable components of our natural environment.
I sincerely hope that my Westminster Hall debate makes the government listen, recognising both the threat chalk streams are currently under, and the value and admiration we must give them. As we’ll hear further in this debate, for the good of our environment, biodiversity, and the health and wellbeing of local communities, it’s imperative that we act now to preserve these unique and precious waterways.
It’s imperative that we act now to tackle the scandal of sewage discharges in chalk streams
