Morfa Nefyn, Rhyl & Menai Strait in top worst coastal sewage spots in the U.K

Three North Wales tourist hotspots make the shameful ‘ top U.K most sewage polluted coastal spots in the UK’. Rhyl and Morfa Nefyn make the worst coastal spots and the Menai Strait makes number 18 on the worst river list according to ‘Top Of The Poops’.

The Menai Strait is technically not a river but a narrow stretch of shallow tidal water about 25 km (16 mi) long, which separates the island of Anglesey from the mainland of Wales. Menai Strait has six rivers that flow directly into it. As part of our partnership work with MSFOMA we have been researching the amount of sewage entering the Strait from these rivers over the last few years.

In just one year, waterways in Wales and England had sewage pumped into them for at least 3.4m hours, according to recently released figures.

This map shows river reporting issues with many CSOs across the UK failing to record in 2021 - percentages that were under 50 per cent of incidents recorded

A spokesman for Dwr Cymru in todays media said: “Welsh Water has monitors on 99% of our storm overflows, more than any other water company, and given Wales also receives more rainfall than England this results in these storm overflows operating more often. It is therefore unsurprising that we currently record larger numbers of spills than others. Nonetheless, we are committed to protecting the environment and investing over £900m to protect the environment between 2020 and 2025.’

“With 44% of Welsh rivers achieving good ecological status, compared to 16% in England, we are playing our part by investing to prevent any water body in Wales failing good ecological status by 2030 as a result of our wastewater treatment works.

“We are also continuing to assess the environmental impact of storm overflows, undertaking more research than other water companies, so that we can, in conjunction with our environmental regulators, understand the range of factors impacting on river water quality and this includes agreeing a programme of work to improve any storm overflows that may be having an impact.”

Top 20 most polluted rivers according to Top Of The Poops.

North Wales Rivers Trust recognise that the issue is not a quick fix. But we also recognise that there needs to be an urgent overhaul of the current sewage network systems and tighter enforcement from NRW.

NWRT CEO Laura Owen Sanderson said “Individually the worst offending CSO spills within our catchment in 2021 were Llanybrynmair, this sewer storm overflow spilled 276 times for a total of 5413 hours directly into the Afon Iaen. Closely followed by Llangybi in Pwllheli which spilled 244 times for a total of 4614 hours and Bryngwran in Anglesey which spilled for a total of 3582 hours’.

NWRT will continue to research and highlight issues with local CSO spills and challenge Dwr Cymru and NRW to act.

If you are concerned about a live CSO spill in your area contact the NRW hotline on 0300 065 3000