Agenda item

Council notes:

·      That the River Cam at Sheep’s Green received Bathing Water Designation in May 2024, following a Labour motion at Full Council in July 2023.

·      That a main goal of the application was to provide information on pollution levels to help swimmers to swim safely and to create a ‘Driver’ to increase efforts by Anglian Water and the Environment Agency to improve water quality.

·      Serious concern over the Environment Agency’s monitoring during the 2024 bathing season (15 May to 30 September 2024) has recorded E. coli levels ranging from 980-6400 colonies/100ml at Sheep’s Green and that this gives a strong indication the water classification will be “Poor”.

·      That once the Environment Agency’s classification is available, the City Council will display a notice at Sheep’s Green showing the classification.

·      That if, as anticipated, the classification is ‘Poor’, notice will include advice against bathing.

·      That Anglian Water has allocated £4.6m for a study and subsequent upgrades to Haslingfield Water Treatment Works under its 2025-2030 AMP8 business plan, subject to receiving Bathing Water Designation and subsequent approval by Ofwat (link: https://www.anglianwater.co.uk/siteassets/household/about-us/pr24/anh01-our-plan-2025-2030.pdf).

 

Council resolves:

·      To write to the Environment Agency and Anglian Water once the bathing water assessment is made available, welcoming the increased availability of information about the quality of water and its suitability for bathing.

·      If the result of the assessment is ‘poor’, to use that letter to express concern at the indications of unacceptable levels of faecal pollution revealed by the monitoring and to highlight the risk this poses to the health of swimmers and other recreational water users on the river Cam.

·      At the same time as expressing concern, the letter should demand that agencies involved take urgent action to investigate and address the causes of pollution, as required by the Bathing Water Act 2013, and that they keep this Council informed on progress with a report to the Chief Executive every six months.

The Council should request that their investigations must include:

·      The adequacy of the performance of Haslingfield Water Treatment Works and Foxton Water Treatment Works, and the unacceptable frequency of storm overflows.

·      The frequency and impact of overflows from sewage pumping stations in Harston, Hauxton, Haslingfield and Grantchester.

·      The frequency and impact of bursts in the Rising Mains connecting Haslingfield, Harston, Hauxton and Grantchester to Haslingfield Water Treatment Works.

·      Potential misconnections into surface water drains flowing into Hobsons Conduit, Vicars Brook and Paradise Local Nature Reserve, which then flow into the River Cam just upstream of Sheep’s Green.

·      The murky (turbid) water in the River Cam, and whether this may be impeding the natural action of sunlight which would otherwise help by degrading faecal bacteria released upstream.

 

Background

The 2024 bathing water season, with weekly monitoring by the Environment agency at Sheep’s Green, has now finished for the year. The resulting classification won’t be released until sometime in November, but from the results already available online it’s obvious that, as expected, the classification will be “Poor”.

 

This classification is what we all expected, and it triggers an obligation on the Environment Agency and Anglian Water to investigate and then fix the causes. In expectation of this, Anglian Water has put around £5M in the budget for the Apportionment study and subsequent upgrades to Haslingfield Water Treatment Works (a.k.a the Sewage works) 

 

The official Appointment Study won’t start until next financial year, but the EA and AW are already undertaking preliminary investigations.  Cam Valley Forum is providing local expertise and additional testing.

Following a “Poor” classification the city council will be required to display a notice about the Poor water quality, with the addition that “bathing is not advised”.

 

Environment Agency Test Results available here https://environment.data.gov.uk/bwq/profiles/profile.html?site=ukh1201-09801

Bathing Water Regulations 2013https://www.legislation.gov.uk/uksi/2013/1675/regulation/13/made

 

 

Council notes:

·      That the River Cam at Sheep’s Green received Bathing Water Designation in May 2024, following a Labour motion at Full Council in July 2023.

·      That a main goal of the application was to provide information on pollution levels to help swimmers to swim safely and to create a ‘Driver’ to increase efforts by Anglian Water and the Environment Agency to improve water quality.

·      Serious concern over the Environment Agency’s monitoring during the 2024 bathing season (15 May to 30 September 2024) has recorded E. coli levels ranging from 980-6400 colonies/100ml at Sheep’s Green and that this gives a strong indication the water classification will be “Poor”.

·      That once the Environment Agency’s classification is available, the City Council will display a notice at Sheep’s Green showing the classification.

·      That if, as anticipated, the classification is ‘Poor’, notice will include advice against bathing.

·      That Anglian Water has allocated £4.6m for a study and subsequent upgrades to Haslingfield Water Treatment Works under its 2025-2030 AMP8 business plan, subject to receiving Bathing Water Designation and subsequent approval by Ofwat (link: https://www.anglianwater.co.uk/siteassets/household/about-us/pr24/anh01-our-plan-2025-2030.pdf).

 

Council resolves:

·      To write to the Environment Agency and Anglian Water once the bathing water assessment is made available, welcoming the increased availability of information about the quality of water and its suitability for bathing.

·      If the result of the assessment is ‘poor’, to use that letter to express concern at the indications of unacceptable levels of faecal pollution revealed by the monitoring and to highlight the risk this poses to the health of swimmers and other recreational water users on the river Cam.

·      At the same time as expressing concern, the letter should demand that agencies involved take urgent action to investigate and address the causes of pollution, as required by the Bathing Water Act 2013, and that they keep this Council informed on progress with a report to the Chief Executive every six months.

The Council should request that their investigations must include:

·      The adequacy of the performance of Haslingfield Water Treatment Works and Foxton Water Treatment Works, and the unacceptable frequency of storm overflows.

·      The frequency and impact of overflows from sewage pumping stations in Harston, Hauxton, Haslingfield and Grantchester.

·      The frequency and impact of bursts in the Rising Mains connecting Haslingfield, Harston, Hauxton and Grantchester to Haslingfield Water Treatment Works.

·      Potential misconnections into surface water drains flowing into Hobsons Conduit, Vicars Brook and Paradise Local Nature Reserve, which then flow into the River Cam just upstream of Sheep’s Green.

·      The murky (turbid) water in the River Cam, and whether this may be impeding the natural action of sunlight which would otherwise help by degrading faecal bacteria released upstream.

 

Background

The 2024 bathing water season, with weekly monitoring by the Environment agency at Sheep’s Green, has now finished for the year. The resulting classification won’t be released until sometime in November, but from the results already available online it’s obvious that, as expected, the classification will be “Poor”.

 

This classification is what we all expected, and it triggers an obligation on the Environment Agency and Anglian Water to investigate and then fix the causes. In expectation of this, Anglian Water has put around £5M in the budget for the Apportionment study and subsequent upgrades to Haslingfield Water Treatment Works (a.k.a the Sewage works) 

 

The official Appointment Study won’t start until next financial year, but the EA and AW are already undertaking preliminary investigations.  Cam Valley Forum is providing local expertise and additional testing.

 

Following a “Poor” classification the city council will be required to display a notice about the Poor water quality, with the addition that “bathing is not advised”.

 

Environment Agency Test Results available here https://environment.data.gov.uk/bwq/profiles/profile.html?site=ukh1201-09801

 

Bathing Water Regulations 2013https://www.legislation.gov.uk/uksi/2013/1675/regulation/13/made

 

Councillor Glasberg proposed and Councillor Tong seconded the following amendment to motion (deleted text struck through and additional text underlined):

 

Council notes:

·      That the River Cam at Sheep’s Green received Bathing Water Designation in May 2024, following a Labour motion at Full Council in July 2023.

·      That a main goal of the application was to provide information on pollution levels to help swimmers to swim safely and to create a ‘Driver’ to increase efforts by Anglian Water and the Environment Agency to improve water quality.

·      Serious concern over the Environment Agency’s monitoring during the 2024 bathing season (15 May to 30 September 2024) has recorded E. coli levels ranging from 980-6400 colonies/100ml at Sheep’s Green and that this gives a strong indication the water classification will be “Poor”.

·      That once the Environment Agency’s classification is available, the City Council will display a notice at Sheep’s Green showing the classification.

·      That if, as anticipated, the classification is ‘Poor’, notice will include advice against bathing.

·      That Anglian Water has allocated £4.6m for a study and subsequent upgrades to Haslingfield Water Treatment Works under its 2025-2030 AMP8 business plan, subject to receiving Bathing Water Designation and subsequent approval by Ofwat (link: https://www.anglianwater.co.uk/siteassets/household/about-us/pr24/anh01-our-plan-2025-2030.pdf).

·      That the concerns about the level of pollution in the River Cam are justified and it is important for the Council to call for action. As turbid water in the Cam is a likely contributing factor, we will also look at the causes for this lack of flow and how if is impacted by water supply sources and over-abstraction – these issues are inextricably linked.

·      The annual reviews by Ofwat, the Environment Agency and the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra) of the performance of England’s water companies were published on 21 October [1]

·      Their joint letter to Cambridge Water [2], the supplier of the city’s water, states clearly that “Your current performance is a risk to the environment and security of supply…’ and points out that there is an on-going deficit in the ‘supply-demand’ balance. Despite the alarms that have been raised, the company is still not addressing the challenge of supplying the rising need for water, much of it due to new development, nor has it reduced the impact of its abstractions on the environment, including harm to chalk streams.

·      In 2019, Cambridge Water forecast the improvements it would have made by 2024, and these have not been achieved. Key failures are interruptions in supply (72% above the forecast and due mainly to system breakdowns or pollution); delay in installing water meters and leakage from pipes.  The significant increase in demand from the non-household sector, including new science parks, is not adequately addressed and there are questions over data accuracy.  The company has until 29th November to explain the action it will take on the problems identified, and until January 2025 to provide an update on improvements being made [3].

·      Cambridge Water’s 2025 draft Water Resources Management Plan has still not been approved by Defra and given the extent of the problems identified it seems unlikely that it will be.

·      There is an assumption that major development in this region must go ahead regardless in the interests of economic growth and that the objections of the Environment Agency can be overruled with ‘water credits’ to fill the significant gap until the reservoirs and pipelines that are planned will be functioning.

·      ‘Water credits’, though, are experimental and face major problems in implementation. See letter sent to all Cambridge councillors on 15th July 2024.

·      There is also now evidence that Cambridge has enough Science labs and offices to meet expected demand (4)

 

Council resolves:

·      To write to the Environment Agency and Anglian Water once the bathing water assessment is made available, welcoming the increased availability of information about the quality of water and its suitability for bathing.

·      If the result of the assessment is ‘poor’, to use that letter to express concern at the indications of unacceptable levels of faecal pollution revealed by the monitoring and to highlight the risk this poses to the health of swimmers and other recreational water users on the river Cam.

·      At the same time as expressing concern, the letter should demand that agencies involved take urgent action to investigate and address the causes of pollution, as required by the Bathing Water Act 2013, and that they keep this Council informed on progress with a report to the Chief Executive every six months.

The Council should request that their investigations must include:

·      The adequacy of the performance of Haslingfield Water Treatment Works and Foxton Water Treatment Works, and the unacceptable frequency of storm overflows.

·      The frequency and impact of overflows from sewage pumping stations in Harston, Hauxton, Haslingfield and Grantchester.

·      The frequency and impact of bursts in the Rising Mains connecting Haslingfield, Harston, Hauxton and Grantchester to Haslingfield Water Treatment Works.

·      Potential misconnections into surface water drains flowing into Hobsons Conduit, Vicars Brook and Paradise Local Nature Reserve, which then flow into the River Cam just upstream of Sheep’s Green.

·      The murky (turbid) water in the River Cam, and whether this may be impeding the natural action of sunlight which would otherwise help by degrading faecal bacteria released upstream.

The Council therefore also resolves:

 

·      To write to Angela Rayner, the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, to make her aware of these facts and ask that she withdraw the previous written ministerial statement (WMS) promoting major growth in this region.

 

·      To write to Daniel Zeichner, MP for Cambridge and Minister of State at the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs to ask for his support.in upholding the objections of the Environment Agency and pausing further large scale developments in this region until there is evidence there will be sufficient water to supply them without further harm to the environment.

 

Background

The 2024 bathing water season, with weekly monitoring by the Environment agency at Sheep’s Green, has now finished for the year. The resulting classification won’t be released until sometime in November, but from the results already available online it’s obvious that, as expected, the classification will be “Poor”.

 

This classification is what we all expected, and it triggers an obligation on the Environment Agency and Anglian Water to investigate and then fix the causes. In expectation of this, Anglian Water has put around £5M in the budget for the Apportionment study and subsequent upgrades to Haslingfield Water Treatment Works (a.k.a the Sewage works) 

 

The official Appointment Study won’t start until next financial year, but the EA and AW are already undertaking preliminary investigations.  Cam Valley Forum is providing local expertise and additional testing.

Following a “Poor” classification the city council will be required to display a notice about the Poor water quality, with the addition that “bathing is not advised”.

 

Environment Agency Test Results available here https://environment.data.gov.uk/bwq/profiles/profile.html?site=ukh1201-09801

 

Bathing Water Regulations 2013https://www.legislation.gov.uk/uksi/2013/1675/regulation/13/made

 

NOTES

 

1.    https://www.ofwat.gov.uk/publications/4/

2.    https://www.ofwat.gov.uk/publication/cambridge-water-wrmp-annual-review-2024-letter/

3.    Other water companies are also in trouble.  South Staffs Water, the company owning Cambridge Water is dubbed “the worst performing company this year”.  The letter to Anglian Water highlights ‘serious concerns’ with security of supply and risks to the environment.

4.    https://shorturl.at/lzMeE

 

The amendment was lost by 6 votes in favour to 28 votes against.

 

Resolved (by 31 votes in favour, 0 votes against and 2 abstentions) that:

 

Council notes:

·      That the River Cam at Sheep’s Green received Bathing Water Designation in May 2024, following a Labour motion at Full Council in July 2023.

·      That a main goal of the application was to provide information on pollution levels to help swimmers to swim safely and to create a ‘Driver’ to increase efforts by Anglian Water and the Environment Agency to improve water quality.

·      Serious concern over the Environment Agency’s monitoring during the 2024 bathing season (15 May to 30 September 2024) has recorded E. coli levels ranging from 980-6400 colonies/100ml at Sheep’s Green and that this gives a strong indication the water classification will be “Poor”.

·      That once the Environment Agency’s classification is available, the City Council will display a notice at Sheep’s Green showing the classification.

·      That if, as anticipated, the classification is ‘Poor’, notice will include advice against bathing.

·      That Anglian Water has allocated £4.6m for a study and subsequent upgrades to Haslingfield Water Treatment Works under its 2025-2030 AMP8 business plan, subject to receiving Bathing Water Designation and subsequent approval by Ofwat (link: https://www.anglianwater.co.uk/siteassets/household/about-us/pr24/anh01-our-plan-2025-2030.pdf).

 

Council resolves:

·      To write to the Environment Agency and Anglian Water once the bathing water assessment is made available, welcoming the increased availability of information about the quality of water and its suitability for bathing.

·      If the result of the assessment is ‘poor’, to use that letter to express concern at the indications of unacceptable levels of faecal pollution revealed by the monitoring and to highlight the risk this poses to the health of swimmers and other recreational water users on the river Cam.

·      At the same time as expressing concern, the letter should demand that agencies involved take urgent action to investigate and address the causes of pollution, as required by the Bathing Water Act 2013, and that they keep this Council informed on progress with a report to the Chief Executive every six months.

The Council should request that their investigations must include:

·      The adequacy of the performance of Haslingfield Water Treatment Works and Foxton Water Treatment Works, and the unacceptable frequency of storm overflows.

·      The frequency and impact of overflows from sewage pumping stations in Harston, Hauxton, Haslingfield and Grantchester.

·      The frequency and impact of bursts in the Rising Mains connecting Haslingfield, Harston, Hauxton and Grantchester to Haslingfield Water Treatment Works.

·      Potential misconnections into surface water drains flowing into Hobsons Conduit, Vicars Brook and Paradise Local Nature Reserve, which then flow into the River Cam just upstream of Sheep’s Green.

·      The murky (turbid) water in the River Cam, and whether this may be impeding the natural action of sunlight which would otherwise help by degrading faecal bacteria released upstream.

Background

The 2024 bathing water season, with weekly monitoring by the Environment agency at Sheep’s Green, has now finished for the year. The resulting classification won’t be released until sometime in November, but from the results already available online it’s obvious that, as expected, the classification will be “Poor”.

 

This classification is what we all expected, and it triggers an obligation on the Environment Agency and Anglian Water to investigate and then fix the causes. In expectation of this, Anglian Water has put around £5M in the budget for the Apportionment study and subsequent upgrades to Haslingfield Water Treatment Works (a.k.a the Sewage works) 

 

The official Appointment Study won’t start until next financial year, but the EA and AW are already undertaking preliminary investigations.  Cam Valley Forum is providing local expertise and additional testing.

 

Following a “Poor” classification the city council will be required to display a notice about the Poor water quality, with the addition that “bathing is not advised”.

 

Environment Agency Test Results available here https://environment.data.gov.uk/bwq/profiles/profile.html?site=ukh1201-09801

 

Bathing Water Regulations 2013https://www.legislation.gov.uk/uksi/2013/1675/regulation/13/made

 

At the conclusion of the motion Cllr Robertson raised a point of order requesting that speaking on the remaining items be made concise in order to complete the business of the agenda in a timely manner.