Samples from River Waveney at Diss show toxic bacteria above levels for safe swimming.
The Green Party has called for a halt to all further dividends to water company shareholders until the privatised monopolies end dumping sewage into the UK’s waterways and coasts.
The call comes as tests show levels of E Coli contamination in parts of the Waveney near Diss show it unsafe for swimming.
Green Party co-leader Adrian Ramsay, who is also the party’s parliamentary candidate for the Waveney Valley constituency is supporting Green Party campaigners urging a clean up the River Waveney at Bungay and Diss. He will make the announcement during
an address to members at the Green Party’s Spring Conference in Birmingham on Saturday 11 March.
Adrian Ramsay said: “The Waveney is typical of rivers up and down the country that are facing an assault from all directions, made all the worse by inaction from government, water companies and regulatory bodies. I've
seen with my own eyes the state of the River Waveney between Suffolk and Norfolk where Anglian Water allows raw sewage to flow into the river far too often.
“In the past decade, by its own admission, Anglian Water paid out £555million to shareholders.”
In Diss, Green Party campaigner Tom Williamson said: “We’ve just taken samples upstream and downstream of storm outfalls there. Even before we had the results we knew there would be a problem. While there we saw wet wipes caught up in the storm overflow grid.”
The results show that even upstream of the storm overflow close to Morrisons, levels of E Coli were just above safe limits for swimming and downstream it was far worse.
Adrian Ramsay said: “The problem is that Anglian Water’s sewage works are not removing E Coli. At these levels warning signs are needed to deter swimmers.”
In Bungay, where hundreds demonstrated against river pollution last May, Green Party campaigner Toby Hammond said: “There are so many families use the river here to paddle or swim or boat. Why should Anglian Water shareholders cash in at the expense of everyone else’s enjoyment of the Waveney?”
Adrian Ramsay said: “The situation we currently have across the country where water companies can, almost with impunity, dump sewage into our rivers, waterways and coastal waters cannot go on. We are calling for a halt to all dividend payouts to shareholders until these companies sort their sewage out.
“After years of failing to invest adequately in infrastructure, the private monopoly model is broken.
“The water industry cannot continue to be rewarded for failure. The £57bn paid out in payouts to shareholders over the last 30 years and hugely inflated salaries of water bosses should have gone towards plugging the leaks.
“Instead of these companies being awash with profits and leaking funds towards shareholders.
“Not only should shareholder payouts be halted immediately, but ultimately, to end leaks, stop sewage discharges and cut bills we need to take the water supply back into public ownership, which is what the Green Party believes must be done at the earliest practicable opportunity.”