What did you lose?
Country file put the microscope on a rather distressing environmental issue across England tonight (May 19).
In a segment hosted by Joe Crowley, viewers learned how wet winters can often overwhelm our sewage infrastructure for months on end, leading to outrageous river pollution that affects not only ecosystems and wildlife, but also living creatures. humans.
Understandably, this realization sparked a huge response on social media, with people appealing to the Environment Agency.
What, how and why?
Crowley, who works at The Only Show It is BBC Panorama Also, he began by revealing that in 2023 our rivers and seas were subjected to 3.5 million hours of contact with untreated sewage.
He went on to explain: “What you may not realize is that untreated sewage is also discharged in dry weather due to something called groundwater infiltration. When we have a wet winter, the water level in the ground rises and this means that in some places, the sewage pipes under our feet are actually in groundwater.
“So when these pipes are cracked and broken, groundwater comes in and increases the volume of sewage – so much so that sewage treatment plants simply can’t keep up and some of it ends up being dumped into our rivers.”
The Countryfile star then paid a visit to River Chess Association president Paul Jennings, who was keeping a close eye on a local chalk stream that was now 11 weeks into its terrible sewage flow. This type of discharge is illegal in some places, but the Environment Agency has not yet resolved the problem.
Later in the episode, Crowley spoke to another member of the public responsible for reporting examples of this ecological disaster to the aforementioned government department. After Countryfile’s own investigation, however, researchers discovered that their complaints were documented as a single event, despite the collection of numerous pieces of evidence.
How did Countryfile viewers respond to these scenes?
Disgusted by the reality of this bacteria reaching our water, Countryfile viewers were up in arms as they posted on social media.
“We need a new government, which will make the Environment Agency do its job properly and make sure these people are prosecuted and arrested,” he said. claimed one of them.
This report on #countryfile just shows how bad the @EnvAgency are letting the field down. Essentially messing with the numbers #sewagedischarge. So disappointed that apparently there is no one holding these huge profit making water companies accountable!
-Katie Pez (@KatiePerrott1) May 19, 2024
Countryfile airs on Sundays on BBC One.
