Sewage was dumped in the River Taff for more than 9,500 hours last year. The data released by Welsh Water shows that the River Taff is the sixth-most-polluted river in Wales with an average of three sewage dumps every day in 2022.
Earlier this week we revealed the terrifying amount of sewage poured into rivers, lakes, and seas around the whole of Wales last year. The worst-affected river is the River Garw – between Blaengarw and Llangeinor – which had sewage dumped at just four sites for a total time of 16,134 hours.
There were 29 sites along the River Taff where sewage was dumped in 2022 with the worst location being at the Cynon Valley WwTW with a total time of 2,213 hours. The Tongwynlais CSO emptied sewage into the Taff for 2,013 hours across 106 dumps.
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We've taken the Welsh Water data and filtered it to just the Welsh Water storm overflows, emergency overflows, and unpermitted storm overflows for the Cardiff sewerage catchment and/or covered by the Cardiff and Vale of Glamorgan environment team. There are 308 sites in all.
The maps below show the exact location of each CSO between Cardiff Bay and Taffs Well.
The Cardiff Rivers Group is a charity which regularly carries out river-cleaning activities. On March 13 volunteers cleared the riverbank and the islands below Llandaff weir and removed 77 bags of waste in total. The group said much of that waste was "sewage-related debris" caught up in trees. Commenting after the clean the group said: "Sadly the amount of rubbish that's caught up in tree branches along the riverbanks – some of it several feet about the normal water level – is beyond belief."
Last month Extinction Rebellion set up a 'crime scene' next to a section of the River Taff where sewage is dumped as part of a week of UK action called Dirty Water. A spokesperson for Cardiff Extinction Rebellion, 34-year-old Pip Beattie, said: "We've watched in horror as our rivers and seas have become open sewers since October 2021 when the government voted down a proposal to stop water companies pumping waste directly into our rivers."
Swimmers are warned to stay away when untreated sewage is discharged into rivers and the sea as the contaminated water could lead to serious illnesses. Risks include gastrointestinal illnesses, or stomach bugs, which may cause diarrhoea and/or vomiting, as well as respiratory, skin, ear, and eye infections.
The scale of sewage dumps by water companies across the UK has become a political hot potato as figures for 2022 showed raw sewage was pumped into rivers and seas for 1.75m hours last year and done on average 825 times per day. The UK Government announced plans to clean up Britain’s waterways on Tuesday with environment secretary Thérèse Coffey saying her team was looking at reducing PFAS substances – known as forever chemicals – in materials. But critics said it's not enough. Liberal Democrat environment spokesman Tim Farron told the Guardian: "The main cause of water pollution is the water firms. Ministers are still letting water companies get away with an environmental scandal and today’s pathetic announcement will do nothing to stop that."
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