Sewage hotspot risk to people's lives, warns Cambridge councillor
The area's been rated as one of the worst bathing sites for water quality in England
A woman aiming to become Cambridge's next MP is warning that part of the River Cam - ranked one of England's worst sites for water quality - is causing a risk to people's lives.
The stretch of the Cam at Sheep's Green — one of 450 designated bathing sites across England — has been rated as poor by the Environment Agency (EA).
It comes as high levels of E. coli and other faecal bacteria have been consistently recorded throughout the bathing season, with people advised not to swim.
"It's a wonderful open space that people flock to and enjoy, but what they don't realise behind that is very high levels of sewage and that affects their health," Councillor Cheney Payne, the Liberal Democrats' prospective parliamentary candidate for Cambridge, said.
"I think the water quality is a real risk for a whole number of people who come to use the river, and it shouldn't be."
Stop Sewage campaign
Sheep's Green is one of 12 other official inland bathing sites in England that have rated 'poor' by the EA, which is responsible for monitoring the water quality of these sites.
Ms Payne has written to current Cambridge MP Daniel Zeichner in a bid to press the Government and the EA to ask Anglian Water to investigate ways of reducing pollution in the River Cam before the end of the 2026 bathing season in September.
The campaign is part of the Liberal Democrats' national Stop Sewage drive, which is calling for water companies — including Anglian Water — to clean up local waterways.
"Sewage has become something that's been on people's radar and for big water companies, that public perception matters, so the fact we're talking about this I think has a huge impact and there is a recognition that this is something people care about," Ms Payne said.
"There will always be some level of pollution which we can't stop, but these high levels (of pollution), that is all from the (Haslingfield) Water Recycling Centre, so they (Anglian Water) are responsible for a huge amount of this."
Pollution not caused by recycling centre - Anglian Water
Anglian Water said poor water quality at Sheep's Green is likely caused by the likes of "local agricultural and road run-off" rather than the Haslingfield Water Recycling Centre because of how far it is away from this area.
The company say it's undergoing a source apportionment study to assess the impacts to the river from its assets and any other third party pollution sources.
"While there are no Anglian Water wastewater treatment sites or storm overflows within 5km of Sheep’s Green, we’re committed to working with other agencies in the area to improve Sheep’s Green’s bathing water quality," an Anglian Water spokesperson said.
"There are lots of factors that can impact bathing water quality – not just our operations, but also agriculture, other industries, and local wildlife too."
Anglian Water said it's been working with local river and wild swimming groups to undertake regular water quality tests before Sheep's Green was made a designated bathing site.
“That’s why we’ve ringfenced more than £80 million of investment to protect and improve our region’s bathing waters between now and the end of the decade, with the first tranche of work already underway," the spokesperson added.
"This investment includes an ongoing study at the Sheep’s Green site, to identify any further work that could be done to improve its bathing water quality.
"If this study shows it would make a meaningful difference, we will invest in improvements at Anglian Water assets, including possible spill reduction schemes and disinfection at wastewater treatment centres.”
More urgency
Earlier this year, South Cambridgeshire's Liberal Democrat MP Pippa Heylings put forward a Bill to make chalk streams UNESCO Natural World Heritage sites to help preserve them for future generations.
The party is campaigning to replace the regulator Ofwat with a new Clean Water Authority, as well as introducing a sewage tax on water company profits to fund a clean-up of the most polluted rivers and coastlines.
The Clean Water Bill has also been outlined in the King's Speech as the county's Liberal Democrat MPs say they will continue to fight for change.
"It's easy to say we've got this plan to improve it over a number of years, but that's not helping people today," Ms Payne added.
"We're not seeing the impact of that improvement over time, so I think they (Anglian Water) need to work with a lot more urgency."