Since we first learnt about the serious pollution of Tideswell Brook by sewage overflows and by pharmaceutical pollution in the summer 2024, we have discovered a lot more about this complex issue. The present government appears to be trying to take action. The water companies have been told they ‘must do better’. This page provides an update on our current understanding of the pollution issues and action promised to address our concerns.
Water Quality in Derbyshire
We know from the Rivers Trust Sewage Map, that there were nearly 100 permitted releases of untreated sewage (for almost 700 hours in total) from the Tideswell Sewage Treatment Works into our tiny Tideswell Brook in 2024. The inability of our treatment works to adequately cope with existing sewage is damaging our local environment and wildlife in this incredibly fragile and precious landscape. We are also aware that it is affecting all proposals to build affordable housing (or indeed any new housing) in our area, due to nutrient neutrality regulations.
We also know that pharmaceutical pollution in the brook is very high, and that this happens regardless of whether our sewage is treated or not, due to the lack of adequate monitoring and environmental regulations to ensure that the water companies install better water treatment technology.
But we have discovered that our sewage treatment works is not the only works in Derbyshire which has similar problems.
According to the ‘Top of the Poops’ web site, the Derbyshire Dales has one of the highest levels of stormwater sewage overflows in the country. They have calculated that rivers in the Derbyshire Dales were polluted by sewage 3,669 times in 2024, lasting 28,238 hours. Many of the small sewage treatment works around us – Bradwell, Baslow, Calver, Grindleford, and Edale, are releasing untreated sewage into small streams as often as Tideswell’s works, and all this finally ends up in the River Wye or the River Derwent. Tideswell is not an isolated case.
Campaigning and Lobbying – Has Anything Changed?
Many local and national organisations have been campaigning on these issues and lobbying the government to enforce regulations. For an excellent overview of the problems around the country, we recommend the BBC2 programme presented by Paul Whitehouse “Our Troubled Rivers” (available on BBC iplayer). He summarises the terrible state of our rivers, lakes and seas. Other national voices including the likes of ex-popstar, Feargul Sharkey, and groups such as the Rivers Trust and Save Our Seas, have been loud and clear.
Our voices have been heard. In 2024, the government set up the Independent Water Commission to investigate the parlous state of our privatised water industry. They reported in July 2025 with a report covering over 80 recommendations (you can read more here). However, we have yet to see a comprehensive response to the report from the government.
Ofwat is the economic regulator of the water companies, created by the government in 1988 to protect the public interest, when the water industry was privatised, . Their main role is to regulate what the water companies propose to charge and spend in order to ensure that they are effective, efficient and sustainable. You may question how well this has been going over the last 35 years.
Under significant public pressure, Ofwat released its final determination for the 2024 Price Review in May 2025. Ofwat claim this will see a quadrupling of new investment in the water sector over the next five years. And that this will provide companies with “the funding needed to transform their performance, ensure supplies for future generations and deliver cleaner rivers and seas.” You can read more here.
The government also passed the Water (Special Measures) Act in 2025. This boosts the powers of water sector regulators to tackle pollution. It also gives Ofwat new powers to force polluting water companies to ban executive bonuses and to claw back bonuses in certain circumstances.
Some steps in the right direction – but is it enough?
The Rivers Trust has welcomed the direction of travel of much of the above, but also argues that many steps are too little and too late. They argue for far greater urgency in terms of expectations of the water companies, and far more funding to go to regulators and enforcement agencies such as the Environment Agency.
The UK also needs new regulations to deal with modern forms of pollution such as pharmaceutical drugs. These regulations are being established in the European Union. They are needed in the UK as well.
How Might This Affect Tideswell?
Severn Trent Water (STW) has responded to the government and Ofwat’s calls to ‘do better’ in the recent publication of its Storm Overflow Action Plans. They say that these plans will allow them to meet all the government’s and Ofwat’s targets. You can subscribe to STW’s River Positive newsletter to receive updates on these plans here.
There are few details yet. But STW have announced some information for Derbyshire. The company states that it will invest £616m over a 25-year period up to 2050 in the county, as part of its plans to reduce spills from storm overflows across the county. You can read more here.
They claim that a total of 416 storm overflows across Derbyshire will undergo investment – which could range from increasing the capacity of storage tanks to introducing green nature-based solutions.
STW state that they aim to reduce the number of spills into water courses across the county, ensuring that by 2040 no overflow will spill more than 10 times in an average year in high priority areas, and in all areas by 2045 – five years ahead of Government targets.
Is This Good Enough?
Many issues remain:
- Is the target of less than ten permitted sewage releases from each treatment works per year by 2040 soon enough? Where is the sense of urgency in protecting our environment and the very special landscape of the Derbyshire Dales and the Peak District National Park?
- How will this promised investment be spent in our area? Which treatment works will be a priority? How can we keep track of progress if we don’t know STW plans and priorities? What happened to the government’s promise of transparency? £616m sounds pitiful for the job in hand (the recent upgrade to Buxton Sewage Treatment Works cost £7m alone).
- The water companies have not met any of the previous targets set for them since the UK signed up to the Water Framework Directive in 2000. Previous targets have been quietly shelved and river conditions have worsened. What faith can we have that they will meet these new targets?
- Will existing regulators such as the Environment Agency and Ofwat be able to hold the water companies to account and enforce required standards without significant new investment (and possibly new powers)?
- Do we need new legislation and environmental regulations to deal with modern pollutants such as pharmaceutical pollution? New regulations to deal with these modern pollutants are being established in the European Union. Why is the UK being left behind?
