River Festival Cancelled!

Carmarthen River festival Cancelled as thousands of gallons of untreated sewerage was discharged into the river Towy yesterday afternoon

As organisers of Carmarthen River Festival were preparing for the event by Carmarthen Quayside lastnight, it was observed that raw sewage was pouring into the river, right in the middle of town where the Carmarthen river festival was due to take place. The river festival was due to take place next week, but as the river bed is littered with sanitary towels ,condoms and human stools, the organisers decided to cancel. No one is prepared to guarantee that the river is safe and if it rains again there is a possiblity that more sewerage will be released. There have been a number of incidents of raw sewerage entering the Towy in Carmarthen of late, reported to the authorities by the Coracle men and Gwendraeth Valley Paddlers. It seems unbelievable that we live in a town where if we have a heavy shower, the sewerage pumping stations can not cope and therefore release untreated sewerage directly into the Towy. Last night I saw how much sewerage was released to the river and was shocked. On reflection I do not believe the river is safe! This is a huge blow as we have been working very hard to promote the the river and trying to get people to use use it. Approximately 1,000 people took to the water in last years river festival and had a wonderful time. We must put a stop to this untreated sewerage being discharged to the river, other river users feel the same way. Please forward to any one that you think will be interested we live in the 21st century we should not be discharging untreated sewerage into our rivers just because we have a shower of rain. If you need any further information please do not hesitate to contact me Ian McCue chairman of carmarthen river festival TEL 07977588342 01267231379

Susan Holland (GVP)