ENVIRONMENTAL activists held a demonstration in Weymouth at the weekend in protest of sewage being dumped into Dorset's rivers and seas.

Extinction Rebellion (XR) will held the third in a series of 'Dirty Water' protests on Saturday next to the King's Statue. 

Campaigners accused the area's water supplier, Wessex Water, of 'irresponsible mis-management of our UK sewerage'.

Sewage can be legally discharged into the water in the event of heavy rainfall to prevent the sewerage network becoming overwhelmed. 

Activists were dressed in a range of different outfits and even brought along an 'inflatable poo' to get their point across.

They say that sewage being pumped into waterways has a negative impact on human health, wildlife and the environment, adding the number of pollution incidents is 'increasing' nationwide. 

XR supporter Annika said: “I don’t want to swim in water with turds and tampons floating past my nose.

"We demand better for all sea and river dwellers and users."

In April this year, fellow XR member Caz Dennett took the decision to not pay her water rates and has recently written to Wessex Water telling them why.

She said: “Until now I have always paid my bill on time, and believed that was the right thing to do.

"However, you are not doing the right thing for customers and our health, for our waterways, for our wider environment and wildlife, and our planet at large.

"Therefore, you are not upholding your end of the deal.”

Wessex Water said it is 'committed to doing more' to help 'improve river health and tackle storm overflows'.

The company claims that about £3million a month is being invested to tackle the issue, with schemes already under way across the region.

Chief executive Colin Skellett said: “We fully understand the public concerns about river health and, in particular, storm overflows; and we are committed to doing more, doing it faster and transparently reporting progress.

“Storm overflows are the legacy of over 100 years when sewerage systems were built using the same pipe to carry both sewage and rainwater, with overflows designed to protect property from flooding during very heavy rain.

"We have 1,300 overflows on our 35,089 kilometres of sewers and we have been steadily eliminating or improving these, but not fast enough.

“Unfortunately, there are no quick fixes; solving this problem will take many years of sustained effort and investment.

"It is also vital that the solutions we employ stand the test of time, against a background of climate emergency and changing rainfall patterns.

"So wherever possible we will use nature-based treatment or, even better, the separation of surface water from the sewerage network.”