On Monday 7th September 2026, Ripon City Council will propose a motion to call upon Yorkshire Water to cease the practice of discharging sewage into local rivers. If passed, the CEO of Yorkshire Water, Nicola Shaw, will be invited to a future meeting to explain why this has been the current practice and to outline what measures will be implemented to ensure that pollution of rivers ends.
The motion has been brought by Cllr Jackie Crozier and is supported in the first instance by the Mayor of Ripon, Cllr Andrew Williams. It reads:
‘This council calls upon Yorkshire Water to cease the practice of discharging sewage into our local rivers. This council believes that local children when water levels permit should be able to paddle safely in our rivers free from pee and poo.
This council invites the Chief Executive to come to a future meeting of the council and explain why Yorkshire Water think this practice is acceptable and outline what measures Yorkshire Water will be implementing to ensure that this practice ceases.’
Cllr Jackie Crozier commented, ‘The time for talk is over. We know what the problem is and the water companies appear not to be accountable to anyone. When our local children are repeatedly warned not to go into local rivers to play and paddle because of the levels of sewage discharged into the waterways, then something is clearly wrong. As a council, we want to look after our local community and call organisations to account when they impact our community and our environment.’
Mayor Williams commented, ‘I care about our environment and a large plc to which we all pay a lot of money each year shouldn’t be polluting rivers and putting our health at risk. I wanted to make a stand, take more direct action, and put pressure on Yorkshire Water to be more answerable.’
Pressure mounts on water companies
This pressure on water companies to be accountable comes at a time when Parliament will shortly discuss holding a referendum to bring the water industry into public ownership, after a landmark petition gained almost 200,000 signatures.
With Yorkshire Water spilling sewage into the waterways of Yorkshire for 285,930 hours last year alone, local rivers and beauty spots have become risky areas to enjoy. At the same time, Yorkshire Water wastes an average of more than 257 million litres of clean drinking water every single day, putting incredible pressure on a single, much in-demand resource for our agricultural community. In recent months, the CEO, Nicola Shaw, received a payment of £660,000 from Kelda Holdings, the parent company of Yorkshire Water, on top of a base salary and benefits of over £657,000.
Yorkshire Water is also due to be downgraded to a 1 star rating later this year, though customers’ bills will still rise by 5.6%.
A range of pollutants
The Ripon area is served by the rivers Skell, Ure and Laver, with a local group, ‘Stop Ure Pollution’ taking water samples to keep the public informed, particularly about the risks from E-coli. Without their efforts, the public would be ignorant of the dangers posed by multiple forms of pollution in the local rivers. Last year, sewage poured into these 3 rivers for 580 hours, or for roughly 24 days. Over the past 5 years, the River Ure alone has had to absorb almost 3,488 hours of sewage being dumped into its waterway.
Enough is enough, now say Ripon City Council, and calling on the CEO to answer questions may act as the precedent for other city and regional councils to do likewise. If Yorkshire Water chooses not to attend, then they will be sending a strong signal to its customers that they feel they are not answerable for their actions.
All eyes will be on the vote at Ripon City Council next week to monitor how local elected representatives respond to this continual threat to water users, with a local resident responding to the proposed motion, saying, ‘It is absolutely fantastic to see this environmental action and leadership coming from Ripon City Council under the direction of Cllrs Andrew Williams and Jackie Crozier. For far too long, our rivers have been polluted by Yorkshire Water and it is time that they face the music for what they have done and make amends to their customers.’
Climate Thoughts with Brian 