River Tone sewage scandal: Gideon Amos demands urgent action

Shocking analysis published by Taunton and Wellington’s Liberal Democrat MP Gideon Amos has revealed that sewage has spilled into the River Tone at least 35 times in the past year.

He says it contributed to the poor water quality of the local bathing site and was among the million hours of sewage spills in England over the past five years.

Mr Amos is calling for more to be done to protect people in Taunton and Wellington as temperatures rise and this year's bathing water season officially gets underway.

The official bathing water season, running from May 15 to September 30, means regular quality testing will be carried out at designated sites.

Data from the Environment Agency has shown that water companies continue to dump untreated sewage across the country, with French Weir in Taunton being affected by 340 hours of searched spills in 2025.

The Liberal Democrats have identified designated bathing sites across in England being subject to a total of 145,606 hours (6,067 days) of sewage dumping last year.

This comes as the BBC covered that 12 out of the existing 14 bathing sites were rated ‘poor’ and should not be swum in.

The historic bathing location on the Tone at French Weir was granted official status in 2023 after Mr Amos submitted a detailed application, before being an MP, backed by the Friends of French Weir Park and hundreds of local residents, keen to see water quality in the river improved.

Bathing sites have been subject to more than a million hours of sewage spills over the past five years in England, but the Lib Dems say that, without forcing water companies to report on spill volume, the true extent of sewage dumping is unknown.

The party are calling on the Government to make water companies report on spill volume, rather than just duration, to stop them obscuring the level of pollution they cause.

Last year, the Government announced plans to replace Ofwat but months later no steps have been taken to begin this process.

Mr Amos spoke in a debate in January advocating for the Lib Dems' repeated calls for the immediate replacement of Ofwat with a stronger, more effective regulator and for water companies to be transferred to public hands, in the form of new customer-owned mutual not-for-profits to take their place.

Mr Amos said: "We are simply not getting the clean-up of our River Tone that it needs and deserves.

“It provides the water we drink and feeds the system that waters our crops and keeps a whole host of human and wildlife alive.

“The fact that I can't responsibly encourage anyone to join me in my regular dips, because of this pollution, is a disgrace - what could be a bigger priority than to stop pumping in this sewage? 

“I am meeting regularly with the Environment Agency to debate the action that Bathing Water status should deliver.

“We all recognise our river is a living thing so we're not asking for it to be made sterile, but government has to stop the most harmful pollutants going into it both from water companies and from other sources.

"The right investment would also cut people's water bills.

“I'm also pushing government to give grants to homeowners to redirect excess rainwater out of the sewerage system so they no longer have to pay for its completely unnecessary treatment".

"Successive governments have looked the other way since a Conservative administration first sold water into private hands in the 1980s.

“I began my work to do what I can to get a better, cleaner River Tone nearly five years ago and I'm not going to stop until we get that.”