SEWAGE overflowed into rivers and waterways in Colchester on more than 500 occasions last year with the data described as a "complete scandal". 

Data from the Environment Agency shows sewage from storm overflows have flowed into water bodies in Colchester 516 times - for the equivalent of 3,264 hours - in 2023.

This is an increase of more than 350 spills compared to the previous year where there were 180 spills in the area spanning 574 hours of overflow.

All of these sewage overflows were from facilities operated by Anglian Water.

The Environment Agency said this rise may be partly due to the country experiencing its sixth-wettest year on record.

The UK had an average of 140.1mm of rain in July 2023, the sixth-highest total for the month since records began in 1836, according to provisional data.

Anglian Water states 70 per cent of the spills occurred in the last three months of 2023.

Martin Goss, Liberal Democrat councillor for Colchester, said: “It is a complete scandal that filthy sewage is being pumped into our region’s rivers and waterways.

“Our community should not be forced to put up with this any longer yet time and again this Conservative government has voted against tougher action on sewage dumping. 

"We are leading the way in holding water companies to account and have called for tougher action to stop sewage being dumped in local rivers and beaches. 

"We need to see a ban on bonuses for water company bosses whose firms have pumped filth into our waterways and our local community is protected from this filth."

An Anglian Water spokesman said: “We are disappointed to see our spill numbers have increased this year.

"However, we are confident that investments we’ve been making to reduce spills have moved the dial in the right direction and spills would have been considerably higher without it.

"It is important to acknowledge the exceptionally wet weather we had late last year, which meant that 70 per cent of our spills were in Q4 alone and in stark comparison to the extremely dry year in 2021, as climate change continues to result in more extreme weather events.”

The company said it is working hard to drive down spills and its 2025-2030 business plan includes one billion pounds of investment into storm overflows.