THERE are serious concerns sewage has been discharged into a river at Fairford for more than 23 days straight – and counting.

A storm overflow for the sewage treatment works in the town have been discharging into the River Coln continuously for more than 560 hours.

It started discharging untreated sewage on September 23 at 5.30am and has done so every day since.

And the second storm overflow in the market town has been out of action for more than a month.

Cotswolds Rivers Trust are concerned as it is not the first time the failing sewage works in Fairford have been in the news.

In January this year the Thames Water storm overflow had been pumping sewage into the Coln for more than 900 hours.

“Fairford Sewage Treatment Works storm overflow has now been discharging untreated sewage for over 500 hours straight, meaning untreated sewage has been pouring continuously into the River Coln for over 20 days,” a Cotswolds Rivers Trust spokesperson said.

“The second storm overflow in Fairford has not been working for about four weeks.”

A Thames Water spokesperson said more investment is needed across the entire water company sector.

And they have plans to upgrade 250 of their sites across the region including the sewage treatment works in Fairford.

“While all storm discharges are unacceptable, the sewage system was historically designed to work in this way, to prevent sewage backing up into people’s homes,” they said.

“We know how much people enjoy and appreciate rivers, and we are committed to seeing waterways thrive, but we can’t do it alone.

"Farming, industry, road runoff, wildlife and increasingly extreme weather also play a role in river health.

“We have clear and deliverable plans to upgrade 250 of our sites across the region, to increase treatment capacity and reduce the number of storm discharges, including at our Fairford Sewage Treatment Works.

“As infrastructure ages and demand on it increases more investment is needed across the entire sector.

"That’s why we’ve asked for increased investment in the next regulatory cycle between 2025-2030.

“We’ve put transparency at the heart of what we do, and we were the first water company to publish a real time data map on our website, which in its first year has been viewed over 350,000 times.”