Donna Anderson loved living near the Trent and Mersey canal, but when it rained her garden was flooded with sewage from the canal and nearby streams. She has had to install extra drainage. It is believed the culprit is Severn Trent Water dumping sewage once a month on average into Barton-under-Needwood stream. This is not a nasty isolated incident. Dozens of people’s lives are blighted by raw effluent being pumped into rivers, canals and streams by water companies across the country. Water companies can discharge raw sewage into rivers in ‘exceptional circumstances’ of heavy rainfall which could cause flooding, but it is happening with alarming regularity. In 2020, sewage spilled into rivers 403,171 times, with serious consequences. Sewage is damaging the quality of over a third of rivers. The Daily Telegraph is calling for action to protect England’s waterways from devastating pollution: see