Experts say the country’s Victorian sewer systems aren’t built for climate change or population growth. Picture: BLOOMBERG
“It’s just the tip of the iceberg we’re seeing at the moment and there’ll be even more health challenges moving forward because of sewage pollution,” said Hugo Tagholm, CEO of environmental campaign group Surfers Against Sewage. The most common and least controversial sewer discharges happen when rain hits the road. That water goes into the storm drainage and then gets discharged straight into local streams.
Another problem is outdated infrastructure. The rule of thumb is that waste water treatment plants should be prepared to handle three to six times their so-called dry-weather flow, which is the equivalent of everyone “flushing their loos when there’s no rain or infiltration into pipes,” according to Barnaby Dobson, a research associate at Imperial College London.
The Durbanization of the UK RotVanRotterdam