DATA from the Environment Agency has revealed that sewage has spilled into the River Tone at least 35 times last year.

An analysis of the information by Wellington’s Liberal Democrat MP Gideon Amos shows that French Weir in Taunton, designated with Bathing Water Status, was affected by 340 hours of spills during 2025.

The MP says it contributed to the poor water quality of the local bathing site and is calling for more to be done to protect people in Wellington as temperatures rise and this year's bathing water season officially gets underway.

Regular quality testing is carried out at designated sites during the official bathing water season from May 15 to September 30.

The historic bathing location on the Tone at French Weir was granted official status in 2023 after Mr Amos submitted a detailed application, before being an MP, backed by the Friends of French Weir Park and hundreds of local residents, keen to see water quality in the river improved.

The Liberal Democrats have identified designated bathing sites across in England being subject to a total of 145,606 hours (6,067 days) of sewage dumping last year. Without forcing water companies to report on spill volume, they say, the true extent of sewage dumping is unknown.

The party are calling on the government to make water companies report on spill volume, rather than just duration, to stop them obscuring the level of pollution they cause.

The MP spoke in a debate in January advocating for the Lib Dems' repeated calls for the immediate replacement of Ofwat with a stronger, more effective regulator and for water companies to be transferred to public hands, in the form of new customer-owned mutual not-for-profits to take their place. The government announced plans last year to replace Ofwat but months later no steps have been taken to begin this process.

Mr Amos said: "We are simply not getting the clean-up of our River Tone that it needs and deserves.

“It provides the water we drink and feeds the system that waters our crops and keeps a whole host of human and wildlife alive.

“The fact that I can't responsibly encourage anyone to join me in my regular dips, because of this pollution, is a disgrace - what could be a bigger priority than to stop pumping in this sewage?

“I am meeting regularly with the Environment Agency to debate the action that Bathing Water Status should deliver.

“We all recognise our river is a living thing so we're not asking for it to be made sterile, but government has to stop the most harmful pollutants going into it both from water companies and from other sources.

"Successive governments have looked the other way since a Conservative administration first sold water into private hands in the 1980s.

“I began my work to do what I can to get a better, cleaner River Tone nearly five years ago and I'm not going to stop until we get that.”