Urgent action needed to save our chalk streams

Victoria Collins, MP for Harpenden and Berkhamsted, held a Westminster Hall debate in Parliament on tackling sewage discharges into chalk streams. 

Saving these waterways from this destructive practice is an issue Victoria has strongly campaigned on both locally, prior to and since her election, and now on the national stage through this parliamentary debate.

Victoria’s constituency of Harpenden and Berkhamsted contains four chalk streams, which are both beloved by the local community and a vital component of the local ecosystem.

Chalk streams enrich their local environment with minerals and nutrients, and are constituted mainly by spring water, supporting both biodiversity and wildlife. They are also rare and largely unique to England, which is home to 85% of all chalk streams worldwide.

Highlighting the major threat sewage dumping currently poses to chalk streams has long been one of Victoria’s priorities. , she continued this work by dedicating her first Westminster Hall debate to this issue, which she hopes will make the government recognise the urgency of this threat to these precious waterways.

Numerous sewage dumping incidents have occurred in Hertfordshire chalk streams, which Victoria has repeatedly raised with Thames Water. Thousands of hours of sewage overflow has occurred into the River Ver (at Markyate), contaminating the water with concerning levels of e-coli (as discovered by the Ver Valley Society) and masses of phosphates and nitrates which hugely damage the local environment. Furthermore, upgrades to this storm overflow to stop this issue aren’t due to be completed by Thames Water until 2026.

This is occurring nationwide, and an issue Liberal Democrats have long called for tough action against. They want to see an end to bonuses for water company executives whilst sewage dumping continues, and for England’s water companies to become public benefit companies.

Although Ofwat has finally taken action, ordering water companies to return £158m to customers via lower bills, we must go further. Victoria is calling for a Blue Flag status to protect our precious waterways, to replace Ofwat with a stronger regulator - the Clean Water Authority, and for the government to enforce tougher restrictions on water companies.

This also comes as the government’s new Water Bill is set to be debated in Parliament. The Liberal Democrats have said the bill is only a “half-measure”, and will table an amendment that would force an immediate ban on water company bosses bonuses.

Victoria hopes that her debate , including inputs from many Liberal Democrat colleagues, will further these calls and show the government why strong action against sewage dumping is urgently needed.

Speaking on this debate, Victoria Collins MP for Harpenden and Berkhamsted said:

“It was a privilege to hold my first Westminster Hall debate on an issue I have long campaigned on, and that I know is highly important to our local community here in Harpenden and Berkhamsted: protecting our precious chalk streams from sewage dumping.

“This awful practice is occurring nationwide, polluting our unique and valuable chalk streams to the detriment of our natural environment, local ecosystems, and communities who admire and enjoy them.

“This situation is completely unacceptable and the previous Conservative government made no tangible effort to resolve it. Time and time again they blocked efforts in Parliament to reduce sewage dumping and water pollution.

“Right now, we need urgent recognition of the value of our chalk streams and the threat they are currently under. We need the government to listen to the Liberal Democrats’ calls for strong measures to tackle this destructive practice, like overhauling Ofwat and ending bonuses for water executives in the meantime. Their new bill is, quite frankly, nowhere near tough enough on polluting water firms.

“I hope that this debate , and input from MPs across the country whose constituencies are home to precious chalk streams, helps to do this, and shows how urgently we need intervention to protect them.”