Concerns have been raised about the quality of sewage discharge data in north Norfolk.

North Norfolk District Council (NNDC) has asked Anglian Water to confirm the number and the accuracy of sewage discharge monitors currently operating across the district's rivers, Broads and coastline.

At a full council meeting on October 5, councillors also asked for information on the areas where sewage discharge can take place, the areas which are not monitored and the operational reliability of the monitors.

In response, a spokesperson for Anglian Water confirmed that 25pc of the district's storm overflows are not yet monitored - but that they are scheduled to be by the end of 2023.

"In terms of bathing waters and shell fisheries, all those in our region have Event Duration Monitoring (EDM) monitors installed on them, and all but three of the places designated for bathing in our region are rated as good or excellent for water quality by the Environment Agency," the spokesperson added.

Water companies are allowed to pump waste into rivers, lakes and the sea during heavy rainfall. This stops drains backing up and homes being flooded by sewage, but the scale at which it is happening has sparked concern.

In 2020, waste was pumped into the the rivers and sea around Norfolk and north Suffolk more than 4,000 times - the equivalent of more than 10 times every day - with every waterway in Norfolk failing to pass environmental standards.

Councillor Liz Withington said the most important thing was that the council had to be confident the information they received from Anglian Water was accurate.

"Some of the information may not be as accurate as portrayed," she said.

“Given the government voted against setting clear targets for what is an urgent need to protect both the health of residents and visitors and our special coastal and inland waterways, holding water companies to account to achieve this in the short term falls to our local government.

"Our residents, local businesses and visitors would expect nothing less.

"Recent discharge episodes at Wells show how important it is to confirm the accuracy of the data is for our environment and communities," she added.