Chesterfield MP Toby Perkins 'alarmed' over sewage discharge at River Hipper

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Chesterfield MP Toby Perkins has contacted the Environment Agency and Yorkshire Water following a recent sewage discharge in a town river.

This week Mr Perkins has written to the Chief Executive of Yorkshire Water and the Chief Executive of the Environment Agency to request urgent investigations into what sewage may have been pumped into River Hipper.

This comes after combined sewage overflows were being discharged for over 40 minutes on Sunday, September 8 at the Bulls Head and Hipper Hall locations.

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Mr Perkins said: “I was alarmed by the reports I heard over the last week regarding sewage being pumped into the River Hipper and I have contacted the Chief Executive at Yorkshire Water and the Environment Agency to request urgent investigations into what sewage may have been pumped into the river, the reasons why and what action will be taken to prevent this in future.

This week Chesterfield MP Toby Perkins has written to the Chief Executive at Yorkshire Water and the Chief Executive at the Environment Agency to request urgent investigations into River Hipper. Photo: © Bill Boaden (cc-by-sa/2.0)This week Chesterfield MP Toby Perkins has written to the Chief Executive at Yorkshire Water and the Chief Executive at the Environment Agency to request urgent investigations into River Hipper. Photo: © Bill Boaden (cc-by-sa/2.0)
This week Chesterfield MP Toby Perkins has written to the Chief Executive at Yorkshire Water and the Chief Executive at the Environment Agency to request urgent investigations into River Hipper. Photo: © Bill Boaden (cc-by-sa/2.0)

"Labour will end this polluting of our rivers and force water firms to clean up their filth. The Water (Special Measures) Bill being introduced by the Labour Government will see a major crackdown on water company bosses, who could face up to two years in prison and be banned from taking bonuses in the event of illegal spills.

“There is also a need for substantially increased expenditure on infrastructure and I am hopeful that the new financing arrangements conducted with OFWAT will see that happen.”

A Yorkshire Water spokesperson said: "Storm overflows reduce the pressure on our sewers and stop the system backing up and flooding homes and gardens by allowing heavily diluted wastewater to discharge into watercourses when our sewers are full. We know our customers feel very strongly about such incidences, which is why we are committed to improving watercourses and are investing over £180m by April 2025 to reduce storm overflows.

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"In the Chesterfield area we are currently investing £5m in three storm overflows to reduce the number of storm water charges into Calow Brook, the river Rother and the River Hipper. Once completed, the storage at all three sites will hold almost 600,000 litres of wastewater during periods of heavy or prolonged rainfall, before returning it to the network for full treatment once the rainfall event has passed.

Chesterfield MP Toby Perkins said he was alarmed by the reports I heard over the last week regarding sewage being pumped into the River HipperChesterfield MP Toby Perkins said he was alarmed by the reports I heard over the last week regarding sewage being pumped into the River Hipper
Chesterfield MP Toby Perkins said he was alarmed by the reports I heard over the last week regarding sewage being pumped into the River Hipper

"We intend to continue with this important work to improve infrastructure and ultimately, the quality of our rivers and watercourses which is reflected our 2025-2030 plan to Ofwat that includes a further £1.4bn investment into reducing storm overflows and is currently awaiting Ofwat's approval."

However, the sewage discharges are just one of issues raised by residents as data from the Environment Agency show that ammonium levels at River Hipper in Chesterfield were above acceptable levels earlier this year.

Ammonia occurs naturally in rivers as it is excreted by animals and produced when organic matter decomposes. It is also discharged into rivers from a range of sources such as treated sewage effluent, agricultural fertilisers, and some industrial process.

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According to the government website, high levels of ammonia can be ‘toxic and can kill or be otherwise harmful to aquatic life including fish’.

The chart shows the ammonium levels in River Hipper in Chesterfield compared to expected ammonium levels in polluted and unpolluted rivers.The chart shows the ammonium levels in River Hipper in Chesterfield compared to expected ammonium levels in polluted and unpolluted rivers.
The chart shows the ammonium levels in River Hipper in Chesterfield compared to expected ammonium levels in polluted and unpolluted rivers.

Un-ionised ammonia can be directly toxic to aquatic organisms. The Environment Agency measures ammonium as an indication of both ammonium and ammonia.

Ammonium concentrations in unpolluted waters range between 0.2 mg/l and 1 mg/l while in treated sewage effluent can be up to 20 mg/l, the Environment Agency website states.

An ammonium concentration of 2.5 mg/l ammonium (NH4+) indicates that ammonia levels could be harmful to fish, under current conditions.

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Environment Agency run Hydrology Data Explorer which provides water quality data for certain rivers – collected by continuous water quality monitoring units. One of the measurement points includes River Hipper at Park Road Bridge in Chesterfield.

The data show that ammonium levels in River Hipper have been above 1 mg per litter earlier this month – hitting 1.57 mg per litre on September 3.

Further data shows that the levels in River Hipper were well above normal in May – when they reached a high of 69.37 mg/l at 3pm on May 13.

Environment Agency has failed to provide a comment regarding the high level of ammonia and said that a reply to the letter sent by Mr Perkins would be issued next week.

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