BBC says ‘Estimated million tonnes of sewage pumped into sea’

From the BBC

More than one million tonnes of raw sewage is estimated to have been released from a pumping station into the North Sea in 2023.

Northumbrian Water produced the estimate of how much sewage was released from its Whitburn site after a Freedom of Information (FoI) request from South Tyneside resident Steve Lavelle.

A tribunal ruled the company needed to provide Mr Lavelle with the data.

A spokesperson for the water firm said it has “some of the lowest amounts and durations of spills in the country”.

The estimate was provided following several unsuccessful FoI requests by Mr Lavelle, with a first-tier tribunal ruling in April that the firm had to release figures within 35 days.

The water firm’s calculations suggest 1.007 million tonnes of sewage was discharged into the North Sea at Whitburn in 2023.

The area along the Whitburn coast is part of the Durham special area of conservation.