A CAMPAIGN to protect Cumbria’s waterways from sewage pollution reached the Houses of Parliament this week.

A bill which will crack down on water companies responsible for the discharges passed its first reading in the House of Commons on Tuesday unopposed.

Westmorland & Lonsdale MP Tim Farron told the MPs that the motion would “provide for mandatory targets and timescales for the ending of sewage discharges into waterways and coastal areas, to make provision about the powers of OFWAT to monitor and enforce compliance.”

OFWAT is the Water Services Regulation Authority, responsible for monitoring the actions of water companies.

Mr Farron said the bill would mean the publication of “a quarterly report on the impact of sewage discharges on the natural environment, animal welfare and human health.

“To require the membership of water company boards to include at least one representative of an environmental group.”

Campaign groups and politicians alike have also raised concerns about the pollution of Cumbrian waterways with foul water when sewers overflow due to flooding.

Raw sewage has been spilled into the River Eden at Etterby Terrace on 42 occasions for a total of 64 hours.

Mr Farron said: “Mr Speaker it is such a privilege to be in this place to speak for the people of the lakes and dales of Cumbria.

“Home of two National Parks and two World Heritage sites, Cumbria’s waterways are nevertheless shamefully often polluted by sewage discharges, yet those discharges take place legally and without sanction.”

He said that water companies are “degrading those national treasures to keep a hold on their own treasure.

The Sewage Discharges Bill was passed without opposition; the Liberal Democrat MP said: “This bill aims to stop the water companies putting their personal treasure ahead of our natural treasure.”

Dr Neil Hudson, MP for Penrith and the Borders quizzed Ofwat’s prospective new boss in a select committee on Wednesday.

He said: “The Environment Agency has said that the second biggest cause of water pollution is untreated sewage released by water companies. OFWAT has said the current levels of storm overflow discharges into rivers cannot continue and the water sector must tackle that.

“Now the Government has brought in strong measures in the new Environment Act to try and tackle this, but how will OFWAT work with the Environment Agency, with Government with the Office of Environmental Protection to ensure these unacceptable discharges actually stop?”

Iain Coucher, who has been selected as the new chairman of OFWAT, said: “My understanding is the complete elimination of these overflows is very expensive and a compromise would be to go back to where the sewage overflows were originally designed, to be only very exceptional rather than the norm.

“We have got to go back to a situation where its exceptional.”

“I think that there should be obligations on water companies to record a lot more about what’s happening, where it’s happening, making that information available to people.

“It’s a combination of tackling the worst, going back to mitigating all but the most extreme weather situations, making information more publicly available and the designation of some water areas.”

He said that it would be a case of “cleaning up some rather than a complete elimination.”