A village in Buckinghamshire the place John Milton penned his epic poem Paradise Misplaced has was an ‘open sewer’ after Thames Water pumped uncooked sewage right into a stream for 5 months straight.
The water firm’s displays present that sewage has been discharged into the River Misbourne that flows by means of the picturesque village of Chalfont St Giles since January.
Nevertheless, a technical glitch with Thames Water’s on-line map meant that the parish council solely grew to become conscious of the spill one week in the past.
Chalfont St Giles councillor Robert Gill informed the i that the Buckinghamshire village now ‘smelled like an open sewer’.
He stated there’s ‘sewage fungus floating down the river and sticking to the perimeters’ and defined that the council had been pressured to shut the village play park as a result of air pollution.
Pictured: Thames Water discharging into the River Misbourne, a valuable chalk stream, in Buckinghamshire
The picturesque village of Chalfont St Giles in Buckinghamshire that has been affected by sewage air pollution
Pictured: Excessive water ranges on the ford in Mill Lane, Chalfont St Giles, this winter
Thames Water examined water samples from the River Misbourne final week for chemical compounds akin to ammonia and dissolved oxygen that point out sewage air pollution.
Though the water firm remains to be verifying the ultimate figures, Mr Gill raised considerations that the preliminary outcomes have been ‘very, very, excessive’.
Thames Water acknowledged that sewage was being discharged into the stream however blamed the spills on the truth that the area had skilled its eighth wettest winter on document.
The corporate stated floodwater had entered the sewage tanks which in flip discharged diluted wastewater into the River Misbourne.
John Milton’s cottage – the one surviving dwelling of the visionary Seventeenth-century poet- is situated within the village of Chalfont St Giles making it fashionable with guests.
It was there that Milton – having travelled to flee the Nice Plague of 1665 -completed his epic masterpiece Paradise Misplaced.
Chalfont St Giles (pictured) was dwelling to Seventeenth-century poet John Milton
Pictured: John Milton’s cottage – the one surviving dwelling of the visionary Seventeenth-century poet
It was on this home that Milton accomplished his pic masterpiece Paradise Misplaced
Milton travelled to Chalfont St Giles to flee the Nice Plague of 1665
The Grade I listed constructing in Chalfont St Giles is now open to members of the general public as a museum.
The River Misbourne has additionally been highlighted as one in every of England’s uncommon chalk streams.
Chalk streams have been beforehand described by David Attenborough as ‘one of many rarest habitats on earth’ and are seen to be below menace from sewage air pollution.
In 2022, uncooked sewage was dumped into England’s seas and rivers on over 300,000 events.
Water firms have been threatened with fines in the event that they proceed to spill uncooked sewage into waterways.
A Thames Water spokesperson stated: ‘Our area has skilled the eighth wettest winter on document, leading to exceptionally excessive groundwater and river ranges.
‘This groundwater and river floodwater then entered our sewers and stuffed the Amersham storm tanks, that means they’re full and are discharging diluted wastewater into the River Misbourne, for which we’re sorry.
The Grade I listed constructing in Chalfont St Giles is now open to members of the general public as a museum
Pictured: Sewage fungus grows on weeds within the River Misbourne in Chalfont St Giles
Pictured: Thames Water discharge waste water into the River Misbourne, a valuable chalk stream, in Amersham
Flooding aftermath within the village of Chalfont St Giles in Buckinghamshire this winter
‘We have put transparency on the coronary heart of what we do, and we have been the primary water firm to publish an actual time information map.
‘Our monitor at our Amersham Storm Tanks website is now publishing this information for the general public to see and whereas all discharges are unacceptable, the sewage system was traditionally designed to work on this method, to stop sewage backing up into individuals’s properties.
‘We all know how a lot rivers are liked and loved by everybody, and we’re dedicated to seeing our waterways thrive. Our engineers are utilizing filter items on the storm tanks and are working laborious to minimise the impression to the river.
‘We have now revealed plans to improve 250 of our websites throughout the area, as we try to extend remedy capability and scale back the variety of obligatory discharges.
‘Nevertheless, extra funding is required throughout your complete sector, as infrastructure ages and demand on it will increase. That is why we have requested for elevated funding within the subsequent regulatory cycle between 2025-2030.’
