Bedfordshire water park manager explains the dangers in wake of new law over sewage spill cover-ups

Currently, not a single stretch of river in the Dunstable and Leighton Buzzard constituency is rated in "good" overall health, including the Luton Lea – which is officially classified as "bad” – according to the Rivers Trust.

This comes alongside a record £104 billion investment package from the water industry over the next five years to rebuild and upgrade our water system, including a new storm tank at Leighton Linslade Water Recycling Centre as part of Anglian Water’s welcome £11 billion upgrade programme.

An Anglian Water spokesperson said it will start its ‘largest ever business plan’ to invest in the water system in the country. The spokesperson explained: “...we know that we have an important role to play in keeping our rivers healthy, by reducing storm overflow discharges and drinking water abstraction.

“We understand our customers’ strength of feeling on this issue, and we agree that transformational action is needed – which is why reducing spills is our top priority for the next five years.”

Leighton Buzzard and Dunstable MP Alex Mayer, who voted for the law, saying such penalties are "essential" to tackle illegal sewage discharges into the county’s waterways.

She said: "Protecting and restoring our natural environment matters to me. I welcome these new laws now in force to help clean up our rivers and hold polluters to account."

Box End Park in Bedford has been open for more than 20 years and is a place for children and adults to swim, paddleboard and water-ski.

Josh Large, site manager, explained how the park has strict measures to maintain high water quality standards.

He said: “It's a man-made lake. We were planning on feeding off the [Great River Ouse] to fill our lakes. But we hit the subbase of natural spring and we are now a spring-fed lake.

“We're quite exceptional in regards to water quality.”

With the warmer weather finally making its way across the county, more and more people will be taking a dip outside – but with the state of rivers and canals in the area, Josh says there are dangers involved.

He said: "A lot of people seem to like to bathe in local dip in spots, or bathe in spots along the river, but the water quality is something that's hugely worrying for us.

“If you're swimming in the river, there's a current and there's unknown territory underneath the water, so you don't really know what you're swimming in, as in, what's been chucked in the river, what's been driven in the river, what's, you know, floated downstream, if there's been a flood.”

Ms Mayer is also supporting the creation of an independent body to monitor sewage levels, advocating for its consideration in the government's independent review of the water sector. However, she warned against creating extra burdens for already pressured regulators.

In Box End Park, the lakes undergo rigorous water testing to make sure that swimmers aren’t getting sick.

Josh explained: “There's a lot of virus, disease in the rivers from the different sewers. We have our water quality tested regularly throughout the year with a deep quality test of 12 different points around the lake, and they do deep checks of our quality at different heights and depths of any parasites.

“We also do our own in-house monthly checks that we check on the water quality.”

Cross contamination is something that could derail all the hard work done to preserve the manmade lakes, so the park has strict rules in place.

Josh added: “We have limited people bringing their own paddle boards to our site because of contamination from the water quality locally.

He explained: “If their paddle board has been on a river that's got blue and green algae, it can be transported through the wetsuit, through the craft, to another body of water, and not help the situation.”

An Anglian Water spokesperson reassured customers, saying: “As part of our largest ever business plan, worth £11 billion, we’ve earmarked £1 billion specifically targeted towards tackling storm spills. This includes ploughing more than £92 million at our sites in Bedfordshire, to improve river water quality by increasing storm tank capacity, installing phosphorous and nitrate removal technology, and reducing storm overflow discharges. We’re also investing a further £90 million to upgrade four of our water recycling centres in Bedfordshire to accommodate population growth.

“We’ve prioritised this work to deliver the biggest benefits first, because we recognise and share the desire of customers to get on with addressing this issue.”