TDEG Whole Group Meeting – Severn Trent Water’s plans for Tideswell Wastewater Treatment Works
18 February 2026, at Fountain Square Church
TDEG welcomed three officers from Severn Trent Water – Nisha Aslam (Stakeholder Engagement Manager), Hannah Hallet (Community Flood Team), and Leanne Town (Education Officer) to this open meeting.
Apologies were received from Fiona, Jules, Helen, Suzanne & Steve, Gerard & Fiona, Josh, Ros, Deborah, and Cllr Neil Buttle (Derbyshire Dales DC). Around 25 people were in attendance.
As an introduction, TDEG explained that we were now in regular contact with STW concerning water quality in Tideswell Brook.
TDEG Concerns
TDEG were alerted to two major concerns in 2024:
- The release of untreated sewage into the brook due to heavy rainfall exceeding the stormwater holding capacity of the treatment works. Just in January and February this year, untreated sewage has been released continuously into Tideswell Brook for over 300 hours.
- The level of pharmaceutical pollution in the brook has been found to be the second highest in the UK. This type of pollution is currently unregulated and therefore neither monitored nor treated by STW.
You can find out more about these issues on our main Rivers & Brooks web page here.
Since these concerns had been identified, our Rivers & Brooks Group have been lobbying Severn Trent Water to take action, and we met with the local STW team on site before Christmas to hear their plans.
We also met with our local MP, John Whitby, on these issues. John has been very supportive and recently raised the question of pharmaceutical pollution in Tideswell Brook in the House of Commons. It was reported that the response from the Secretary of State for the Environment was rather vague, and John is continuing to press for change. We need to keep up the pressure on our government to implement the same changes to legislation as the European Union.
We appreciate STW attending this meeting. Nisha agreed that her presentation could be shared (click on the link provided).
Any questions the STW team could not address immediately were recorded, to be followed up. STW answers will be circulated after the meeting when available (to follow).
STW Wastewater Management
Nisha Aslam’s presentation focused on wastewater management. She explained the main issue is balancing the need for housing and development with an old and outdated sewerage system. Developers have a ‘right to connect’ to mains supply with existing infrastructure. They are also responsible for fixing any flawed connections. But Nisha explained that Severn Trent Water are not a statutory consultee on planning applications and hence can’t refuse or challenge this demand.
Our sewerage system is a Combined Sewer Overflow system, first established in Victorian times. Whenever there is heavy rain, if the combined stormwater and sewage cannot be stored on site, it is permitted to release it into local rivers to prevent back-ups in the system.
STW agreed that the current frequency of these permitted overflows is unacceptable. Further storage will have to be created at the Treatment Works. STW are aiming to complete these improvements by 2030, and reduce sewage spills into Tideswell Brook to less than ten times per year.
They are also in discussion with the Environment Agency over the introduction of new technology to deal with pollution such as pharmaceuticals and other ‘forever chemicals’. There is a possibility this could be piloted at Tideswell treatment works (and TDEG support might be helpful here – we will follow this up).
Flooding and Education
Following Nisha’s presentation, Hannah and Leanne also summarised their work.
Hannah emphasised that the STW community flooding team was a new team, set up to build relationships with those people affected by flooding. They hoped this would create trust and resilience in local communities.
Leanne explained her work with schools and youth groups. Their emphasis is on increasing understanding about how our water and sewage networks work, and explaining what we can all do to reduce pressures on the system.
Their top tips to prevent blockages include:
1. Remember the 3Ps
Only flush pee, poo and (toilet) paper – nothing else! Wipes, cotton buds, and sanitary products belong in the bin.
2. Be a Binner, Not a Blocker
Scrape leftover fats and oils into a container and pop them in the bin – not down the sink
Use kitchen roll to soak up grease from pans before washing up
3. Bin the Wipes
Even ‘flushable’ wipes don’t break down like toilet paper. Keep a bathroom bin handy and toss them there instead .
Questions and Discussion
Any questions remaining unanswered will be followed up and answered shortly.
Q. Is a spill of 240 hours considered one spill?
A. Yes. STW provides data on the number of spills and the length of these spills. As well as ‘live’ monitoring, annual totals are also provided.
Q. Are non-permissive spills included in STW reporting?
A. STW publish all their data, which they believe includes non-permissive spills, but they will confirm (to be confirmed).
Q. Do all STW overflows now have monitoring systems?
A. Yes
Q. How many new homes are the STW infrastructure plans designed to cope with?
A. Less than being built due to the ‘right to connect’ and time lag between the Ofwat approved 5 year Asset Management Plan and changes to house building plans.
Q. 18 months ago Tideswell residents met with four senior technical people from the Environment Agency. They identified four easy solutions to slow the flow during periods of potential flooding. But there has been no news of progress. How can we work with the new Community Flood Team to progress these ideas?
A. Hannah welcomed the fact that contact had now been made and will liaise.
Q. What does the five year target for 16.8% leakage reduction actually mean in terms of real volume?
A. To be followed up.
Q. With regard to dealing with cooking fat (this must not be put down drains). Can Severn Trent confirm that household cooking fat can be used as a base for bird feed [appears to conflict with RSPB advice]?
A. To be followed up.
Q. What are the plans to reduce phosphates as part of the 5 River Pledges and when?
A. STW are about to meet with the Environment Agency to discuss this issue. A response will be provided after that meeting.
Q. Why are pharmaceutical pollution levels so high in Tideswell Brook?
A. The researcher who undertook the research is not entirely sure. But believes it could be due to a slightly older population (i.e. we all take more medicines, which end up in our waste water), but also the lack of dilution when flow levels are low in the brook.
Following all the presentations, the STW team encouraged everyone to contact them if they had any concerns about pollution, flooding or to arrange visits to local schools.
Contact Details
Thanks
We thanked all three STW officers for sharing their work with us.
We will be following up their offers of further close working and seeking to address the main issues of concern to us sooner, rather than later.
