The ACA has made a formal complaint on behalf of anglers to the European Commission over the failure of the UK to comply with the Urban Waste Water Treatment Directive at Penrith on the River Eamont in Cumbria.

The Eamont is very badly affected by 14 combined sewer overflows which carry raw sewage into the river after rainfall.

Mark Lloyd, Executive Director at the ACA, said:

“Fifteen years after the water industry was privatised we should not be in this situation. When raw sewage enters a river it kills fish, damages the ecology of the river and leaves the trees on the river banks festooned with sewage debris.”

The ACA is actively considering whether to take parallel common law proceedings for compensation against the water company concerned for the damage to fishing in the Eamont by the intermittent pollution.

Guy Linley-Adams, Solicitor at the ACA said:

“Anglers are the first to notice how pollution damages rivers and causes huge fish kills. The ACA is here to represent those anglers and to make polluters pay for the damage they cause and that is precisely what we shall be doing in this case.”