Kit PetersRIVER TAWE: First Minister orders investigation after sewage and sickness concerns raised in Senedd
The First Minister has asked Natural Resources Wales to investigate the River Tawe after concerns were raised in the Senedd about pollution and reports of people falling ill.
Rhun ap Iorwerth told the chamber he was aware of recent reports of sickness among people who had been swimming in the river.
“I am aware of and concerned about recent reported incidents of sickness when individuals have been swimming in the River Tawe,” he said.
“I have asked Natural Resources Wales to investigate the reports, and I will provide an update when further information becomes available.”
The issue was raised during First Minister’s Questions on Tuesday by Rebeca Phillips, the Plaid Cymru Member of the Senedd for Brycheiniog Tawe Nedd.
She told the chamber that residents in the Swansea valley had reported a number of people, many of them children, falling ill after entering the water.
She asked the First Minister to provide assurance that the Government would “work closely with Natural Resources Wales and Dŵr Cymru to thoroughly investigate these incidents, and take the necessary action to safeguard public health and improve water quality.”
The First Minister said he would work with all the necessary bodies to ensure a joined-up approach to any investigation.
Mike Hedges, the Labour Member of the Senedd for Gŵyr Abertawe, who has worked with two local angling clubs on pollution in the river, pointed to the Trebanos waste water treatment works.
He told the chamber that the Trebanos pumping station was not separating rainwater and sewage, leaving limited options when it became full.
“When it gets full, the two choices are to let it back up and flood the houses with sewage or release it into the river,” he said.
He said Natural Resources Wales had confirmed that work to prevent the regular discharge of untreated sewage from the works was “not likely to be completed until 2030.”
“I do not believe that is acceptable,” he added.
Hedges also linked reports of children being taken ill after swimming in the river to the wider pollution problem, and raised concerns about run-off entering the water.
The Trebanos works, which serves Pontardawe, Rhyd-y-fro and Ystalyfera, was named by Dŵr Cymru Welsh Water in 2020 as the worst of its 50 problem sites in Wales.
Local angling clubs, working with the campaign group Fish Legal, have logged repeated sewage spills into the river over a number of years.
The concerns in the Senedd came as a Clydach community councillor, Matthew Bailey, issued a public warning urging parents to keep children out of the river after several were reported to have become unwell.
His notice, shared by the Pontardawe and Swansea Angling Society, said Natural Resources Wales, the local authority and the Welsh Government had been notified.
It has not been independently confirmed what caused the reported illnesses.
The River Tawe has a long-documented history of sewage pollution, much of it linked to the Trebanos works upstream.
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