Council Leader calls on water companies to address levels of raw sewage released into the borough's rivers

Cheshire West and Chester Council has called on water companies operating in the borough to address the levels of raw sewage being released into its rivers. This comes in the same week as Chester Zoo has written an open letter to one of the water companies calling for action about sewage released into the River Dee.

Councillor Louise Gittins, Leader of Cheshire West and Chester Council, said:

"We fully agree with the view stated by Chester Zoo and agree that what appear to be frequent discharges of sewage into the River Dee are just not acceptable.

Because we realise the importance of the issue, the Council itself has recently invested over £8 million in a new, one kilometre long rainwater drainage tunnel under Chester. This is to reduce flooding and untreated sewage discharges into the River Dee arising from the old, combined sewer system.

This new drain can handle 1,000 litres of rainwater per second and serves an area of around 50,000m2 - which equates to around nine football pitches.

The Council's contribution is just a small part of what is required, and we now call on the water companies themselves and the Government to follow suit and to address the situation."