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Feargal Sharkey criticises water company for 'dumping' 'thousands of hours' worth of sewage in river

The Undertones - Gie Knaeps
The Undertones - Gie Knaeps

A celebrated punk singer has accused Thames Water of "dumping" thousands of hours' worth of sewage in a river.

Former lead frontman for the Undertones, Feargal Sharkey OBE, said the 12,734 hours of waste disposal in the River Kennet last year was "utterly shocking" and potentially illegal.

Admitting to the discharges, the water company claimed that rainwater from storms had made the sewage 'heavily diluted' and letting it flow into rivers prevented homes and streets from being flooded.

The Northern Irish singer said: "The UK Government was taken to court in 2012 regarding dumping sewage and allowing water companies to dump sewage into rivers.

"The court ruled that that should not be allowed to happen, and in fact ruled that it should only possibly ever happen in what the court referred to as 'exceptional circumstances'.

"Using Thames Water's own monitoring data, we now know that last year they spent 12,734 hours dumping sewage into the River Kennet."

On Twitter, Sharkey described the 46-mile river - a Site of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI) which runs from Marlborough, Wiltshire, to Woolhampton, Berkshire - as "one of the rarest habitats on earth".

A Thames Water spokesman said: "We work hard to minimise storm discharges, while also looking at how we can improve the system for the future, including reducing groundwater infiltration and increasing capacity.

"We've also invested heavily in monitoring equipment to understand how frequently spills occur and help us plan improvements."

Thames Water was recently fined £700,000 for illegally dumping sewage into Berkshire's waterways and an additional £20 million in 2017 for allowing sewage to leak into the River Thames around Berkshire.

An Environment Agency spokesman said: "We take sewage pollution incidents very seriously and take action where there is evidence of offending and environmental harm.”

"We have a strong track record, especially in the area that covers the Rivers Thames and Kennet, of taking tough enforcement action, including successful multiple prosecutions in recent years for the most serious sewage pollution incidents.”