£660 Billion to Fix Sewers? Really?
£660 Billion to Fix Sewers? Really?
My MP responded to my impassioned call to vote for the Lords amendment that would end raw sewage dumping (filled with microplastics) in UK rivers and the sea by voting against it.
His justification largely seems to be around it costing a lot to update Victorian infrastructure... I have some questions:
1. I have worked in big companies and when someone doesn't want to do something, they put a very long timescale or a very big cost making it happen. The estimation of a cost between £150 and £660 billion to fix sewer overflows smacks of someone having a guess before a select committee, not a credible and well worked estimate. I have yet to see someone break it down into what costs what, I would like to see it and so would a lot of other campaigners
2. If it really is going to cost that much to fix Victorian infrastructure today, then how much is it going to cost to fix it in 10, 20 or 30 years time? This problem is getting rapidly worse (double the number of spills in 2020 vs 2019), the infrastructure is getting older and the population bigger. A problem like this will definitely get more expensive (in real terms) to fix later.
I have written to him again and made these points and while I know he will vote for what he is told to, the additional pressure is apparently worrying many MPs, who have full inboxes from constituents and their copy and paste Q&A responses being torn to shreds by experts on social media.
We donate to Surfers Against Sewage and I have raised money for them through my Half Marathon swim this year too. SAS campaign, lobby, educate and take action on the subject of plastic and sewage pollution and to that end have produced this amazing tool. What it does is takes your postcode, gives you the email of your MP and the text you can copy and paste, which gives details of how many sewage outflows there are in their constituency, how often they spill and for how long.
Please get in touch with your MP today and tell them this is important! We have head that the huge volume of emails and social comments is causing many to waver on the vote this week. Click HERE to go to the email your MP tool.
