High water and flooding a ‘smelly reminder’ of the state of the Severn

Flooding throughout January and February is becoming a constant of life in Shrewsbury, despite pledges of action from the government. Local councillor Alex Wagner recently visited the burst banks of the Severn off Pig’s Trough in Coton Hill, where last year floods spread human excrement onto a well-used footpath.

Councillor Wagner has previously waded into the Severn to test water quality and discovered incredibly poor health indicators. He is now continuing his campaign to clean up the river, and will be petitioning residents on new plans to fund clean-up efforts.

Under these proposals, stopping dumping and improving the health of the river would be funded by taxing profit-making water companies like Severn Trent, who made pre-tax profits of £270 million last year.

Alex said: “High water and flooding will serve as a smelly reminder of the state of the Severn this year. Despite water companies making hundreds of millions in profit, towns like ours nestled in the banks of the river are forced to put up with sewage and human waste being dumped on our doorsteps. It’s just not cricket.

I’m going to be petitioning and calling on the government to introduce a tax on profits made by water companies like Severn Trent, ring-fenced to clean up local rivers and waterways. If I was our MP, I would table watertight legislation specifically aimed at making this happen.

I’m born and bred in this town and love it to bits - my dad used to tell me stories of swimming in the Severn at the Quarry in summer when he was a kid. There are many good reasons not to do that now, and it is a dire shame that amongst them is the amount of raw, unprocessed human excrement you’d encounter. We simply have to do better at protecting our natural environment.”