![](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/0_1jpeg.jpg\")
Dan Ross with a jar of water and treatment plant bio-beads taken from the River Irwell<\/p>\nAn event next week will examine concerns about sewage being pumped into the river near Bury for hundreds of hours per yearDan Ross with a jar of water and treatment plant bio-beads taken from the River Irwell<\/p>\n
A river near Bury has been branded one of the country\u2019s \u2018worst sewage dumping grounds\u2019 by campaigners.<\/p>\n
Next week, a public meeting will be held by Bury<\/a> Trades Council about local rivers, the privatised water industry, infrastructure and sewage.<\/p>\n The group claim the combined sewer overflow at Sion Street in Radcliffe<\/a> was responsible for more sewage spills than any other location on the River Irwell in 2023.<\/p>\n It is claimed that at nearly 2,200 hours, this was the equivalent of three months\u2019 of continuous sewage spills.<\/p>\n United Utilities, who manage water and sewer infrastructure in the region, said that the situation is improving on river emissions and they had invested more than \u00a3400m between 2020 and 2025 across the Irwell catchment.<\/p>\n They said that at Sion Street, spills reduced to 844 hours in 2024, compared to the 2023 data that the trade council had quoted.<\/p>\n Combined sewage overflows mix toilet sewage with rainwater, which is discharged into rivers.<\/p>\n The campaigners said this harms wildlife in rivers and coastal environments, including fish and shellfish, along with posing threats to humans. Dan Ross, from the trades council, will chair the meeting.<\/p>\n He said: \u201cSince 1989, the provision of our fresh drinking water and disposal of sewage has been in the hands of private water companies like United Utilities.<\/p>\n \u201cWe consider that these companies pay mere lip-service to their role in \u2018serving\u2019 the public.<\/p>\n \u201cThis is because they have diverted money which should have improved our water supply, sewers and rivers into the pockets of their shareholders.<\/p>\n \u201cSewage that should have been treated is quietly dumped in to our rivers, while the monitoring body, the Environment Agency, effectively looks the other way.<\/p>\n \u201cWe believe the entire situation is intolerable, and completely unnecessary.\u201d<\/p>\n Bury Trades Council, which brings together local trade unions to campaign on issues, is holding the meeting on Thursday, June 26, at Prestwich<\/a> Methodist Church, 405 Bury New Road, at 7.15pm.<\/p>\n Speakers will include Dr Morag Rose from the Our Irwell group, environmental campaigner Mike Duddy and Green Party councillor Hannah Spencer.<\/p>\n![](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/1750594453_222_0_2.jpg\")
An overflow pipe at United Utilities’ Sion Street processing plant in Radcliffe<\/p>\n