Many of Derbyshire’s rivers had effluent pumped into them for thousands of hours last year. 

Photo © Stephen BurtonMany of Derbyshire’s rivers had effluent pumped into them for thousands of hours last year. 

Photo © Stephen Burton
Many of Derbyshire’s rivers had effluent pumped into them for thousands of hours last year. Photo © Stephen Burton

Seven of the Derbyshire rivers where the most sewage is dumped

The government has responded to controversy around its Environment Bill by placing a duty on water companies to reduce sewer discharges. However, huge amounts of sewage are still being spilled into rivers.

Severn Trent and Yorkshire Water, both of which supply water to Derbyshire, are two of the biggest culprits. The BBC reported that Severn Trent discharged sewage into rivers for 558,699 hours last year, while Yorkshire Water did so for 420,419 hours.

The below locations are amongst those with the highest rates of sewage discharge in Derbyshire in 2020.

All data is taken from The Rivers Trust. All photos are illustrative, and do not show the exact location of each sewer storm overflow.