Handle this?
So here we are at our first proper sewage treatment works. A very small one that serves the Guiting Power area but even here we can see a steady flow of effluent entering a very small stream.
Just imagine how the use of cleaning chemicals, drugs like statins and antibiotics, and hormones in birth control have developed since the 1960s and 70s and think of the coincidental decline of many of our rivers.
Microplastics are there as well and we are turning many of our once pristine rivers into pollution highways.
The next time you are in a supermarket, take a look at the laundry and cleaning shelves and just take a moment to think that almost all of that is heading for our rivers and seas.
The tip of the iceberg.
Some of these products are broken down and rendered harmless by sewage treatment - we are told but some are labelled 'harmful to aquatic life with long lasting effects.
When untreated sewage is going in, this gives us an idea of what that really means - all of this in addition to the the human poo, pee, blood, etc.
This toxic cocktail is why WASP is so against the ever increasing volumes of untreated sewage that the Environment Agency permits the water industry to discharge to our rivers and seas.
Of course on other occasions the EA does not permit this activity but it still happens - more on that to come soon.
If you have a garden pond, paddling pool or swimming pool, just how much untreated sewage would you be happy to pour in?
The response from government department Defra to WASP questions about the regulation of household chemical products revealed that it is ''is applied in a light touch way''! A light touch to protecting our health and the health of our country. Leave it to the manufacturers.
How will future generations look back on the 'light touch years' as they try to undo what we have done to them?
This is in our hands and it doesn't have to be like this. Thanks for following - back to the river walk next time and heading down to our next sewage works at Naunton.