Caz Dennett, 53, of Weymouth, Dorset, has not paid her wastewater payments since April 2023.
She has now received a letter ordering her to appear at Weymouth County Court on 10 February over her non-payment – but intends to challenge Wessex Water’s claim.
“The crux of my case is that I am being charged for a service that I am not receiving, because they should not only collect, but also treat sewage from my property,” Ms Dennett said.
“To know that that sewage is being repeatedly discharged into Radipole Lake, an RSPB nature reserve, into our harbor, really sensitive wildlife areas, it’s got to stop.
Wessex Water said it understands that storm overflows are an issue for customers and it is happy to discuss its solutions with them – as it claims it has done with Ms Dennett in the past.
Caz Dennett (left) at a protest against Wessex Water sewage pollution in WeymouthEnvironment Agency data shows that Wessex Water dumped sewage into waterways from storm overflows 41,453 times in 2023 for a total of 372,341 hours – nearly three-fold increase when compared to 2022.
Wastewater companies are permitted to discharge untreated sewage into waterways to prevent their infrastructure from becoming overwhelmed, but they are only allowed to do so during exceptional periods of heavy rainfall.
A Wessex Water spokesperson said: “We understand storm overflows are an issue for customers and we’re always happy to discuss our solutions and where we are investing with them, which we have already done with Ms Dennett.
This comes as The i Paper revealed, plans to clean up rivers across England have been put on hold due to delays in funding from millions of pounds of sewage fines.
Where sewage has been dumped 3,700 times after heavy snow and flooding
Read More“We completely understand people’s anger and upset on this issue and our own research shows that just a third of households are satisfied with water companies’ efforts to protect the environment. However our advice to people who approach us with a complaint regarding this matter is to continue paying their charges.
“This could negatively impact their credit rating and also potentially result in additional costs being added to their bill. If someone has chosen to boycott payment, there is no requirement for a water company to suspend or delay debt recovery action just because the customer has raised a dispute with their supplier or CCW.”
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