Our local MP David Warburton is supporting a private members bill to stop water companies discharging untreated sewage into rivers. He met with Sue Everett and Mike Bull from FoRF to hear about the problem in Frome for himself. He wrote afterwards to Sue:
“I can certainly assure you that, when the Bill returns to the House of Commons for its second reading in January, I will be giving it my full support.
“Protecting our rivers and waterways is an issue of huge importance to our communities in Somerset and it’s always been of critical interest to me to address improvements to the maintenance of our waterways and also enhance flood prevention and dredging. “… must thank you, along with the Friends of the Somerset River Frome group, for the crucial work that you do for the town and its wider environment. And I am delighted that, largely thanks to your efforts, discharges into the river are now being monitored.”
The Bill, tabled by Philip Dunne, the Conservative chair of the environmental audit committee, seeks to place a duty on water companies to ensure untreated sewage is not
discharged into rivers and inland waterways. The second reading of takes place on 22 January.