Sewage 8,075 spills across the area in 2024

SEWAGE was emptied into Bristol's waterways thousands of times last year.

- Estel FARELL ROIG

There were a total of 8,075 sewage spills into rivers and streams in the wider Bristol area during 2024, an average of 22 a day.

That's up slightly from 8,025 spills in 2023, according to figures from the Rivers Trust.

The spills ran for a combined total of over 53,000 hours (up from nearly 50,000 a year earlier).

The country's sewage network empties both treated sewage and overflows of untreated sewage mixed with stormwater into rivers and waterways.

The vast majority of these dumping points are monitored throughout the year with the number of spills and the duration of the spills reported annually.

There were 563,730 spills across England and Wales in 2024.

It works out at an average of 1,544 a day. That is down from 1,588 per day in 2023.

Last year's spills ran for a combined total of 4.55 million hours.

The Great Badminton Storm Tank was the most active spiller in our region last year.

There were 189 spills from the site running for a total of 4,012 hours. That's equivalent to 167 days of non-stop flowing.

The Doynton Inlet was the next most active site. It spilled 126 times for a combined total of 2,484 hours.