Fake poo and a 'Richard the Turd' appeared before the headquarters of Severn Trent today in a protest for cleaner rivers.

Activists left the bucket of mock sewage outside the Coventry offices of Severn Trent and crowned the 'king' as they called on the company to "clean up [its] act."

In a statement, the company said they understood why people feel let down by water companies and said they are taking action to make it right.

Dozens of people took part in the action which started with a march through the city centre at 1pm and culminated in a rally outside the Severn Trent building.

One person came from 40 miles away to take part and others included Green Party councillors, members of the Trade Union Congress and Tories for Conservation.

A leaflet with protestors' demands cited reports that in 2020 Severn Trent dumped raw sewage into rivers for 500,000 hours – which is allowed under government rules but has been criticised by water charities.

It also highlighted the pay of Severn Trent boss Liv Garfield which came to almost £4 million last year.

'Richard the Turd' joined the march through Coventry City Centre (image by Ellie Brown)

The group say they want the company to improve its holding capacity at treatment works, so overspills don't happen in extreme weather.

They also want Severn Trent to fix all leaks and treat its effluent with UV or oxygen to kill bugs, after 'superbugs' were found near Finham sewage works in 2014.

Organiser Merle Gering, who chairs Keep Our Green Belt Green, told the Local Democracy Reporting Service (LDRS): "Everyone feels it's an outrage that there's s**t going into our rivers.

"It's not what we would expect in a modern country. Water is fundamental to life."

Fake poo was left outside Severn Trent's HQ (image by Ellie Brown)

A Severn Trent spokesperson said: "We fully respect the right to peacefully protest and understand why people feel let down by water companies when it comes to rivers.

"We know what needs to be done to make it right, and we're doing it.  

"We're delivering an industry-leading plan that includes bold commitments, such as by 2030 our operations will cause no harm to rivers. 

"In the first year of this plan, we've reduced our impact by a third, but we know there's more to do, which is why we're continuing to invest hundreds of millions of pounds into making rivers the healthiest they can be."

Recently-published figures from the Environment Agency show there were 73 counted spills of untreated sewage from storm overflows around Kenilworth in 2022, into Finham, Cattle and Canley Brooks.

The data shows the most spills around Kenilworth were recorded at Finham Brook near Dalehouse Lane - with 28 separate incidents amounting to 132 hours of spills.

Elsewhere there were a further two incidents near The Close, 23 into Cattle Brook near Warwick Road and 20 into Canley Brook near the University of Warwick.

Across the constituency of Kenilworth and Southam, sewage discharge fell from 1,990 incidents in 2021, to 1,171 last year.

The figures, which include data from Severn Trent and Thames Water, show that there were 8,245 hours of sewage dumps in the area in 2022 - down from 20,558 the year before.

Local MP Matt Western has raised the issue of sewage dumping on a number of occasions.

"The level of sewage we're seeing dumped in our waterways is terrible. We have beautiful countryside across the country and the fact that companies are being allowed to get away with polluting it is atrocious," he said in April.

"Ten years ago there were hardly any discharges into our rivers.

"The Conservatives keep backtracking on their commitment to clean up our waterways and fine the companies dumping sewage into them.

They've had 13 years to sort out this mess. It's clear they can't.

"Labour has a clear and costed plan to clean up our waterways and make the companies behind the pollution pay up."