đź’© Today, Welsh Water have published their 2024 Storm Overflow data.
Analysis by the Afonydd Cymru, the Rivers Trust of Wales, has calculated a total of 112,589 spills, over 929,168 hours in Wales. This shows a similar pattern of operation to the previous year.
The Top 20 spilling assets in Wales individually spilled between 3587 hours and a whopping 6267 hours over the year. Based on rainfall analysis by Afonydd Cymru against the exceptional rainfall condition, these assets operated legally for only 1% of the time.
In 2024, 276 assets spilled more than 1000 hours into Welsh rivers – the maximum duration of spills that could be compliant with the heavy rainfall condition anywhere in Wales. The worst catchments impacted in Wales were the Ogmore, Loughor and Clydach.
The National Environment Programme (NEP) outlines what Welsh Water must invest in over the next five years. With record-breaking investment committed, will this be enough to bring these assets back to the aim of ‘no ecological harm’? đź’©
Afonydd Cymru’s thoughts here: Welsh Water publish 2024 Storm Overflow data – Afonydd Cymru