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."

Recently-published data from the Environment Agency has also shown there were 116 counted spills of untreated sewage from storm overflows in the Warwick and Leamington constituency in 2022.

This amounted to 486 hours of sewage being dumped into local rivers - the equivalent of more than 20 days of spillages.

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

David Whiting travelled 40 miles from Worcestershire to attend the protest.

Dressed in a t-shirt with a 'deliver-poo' logo, he held a flag in one hand and a tray with fake poo with him made out of weetabix, chocolate and treacle in the other.

He told the LDRS he lives near the River Severn in a town that he claims is affected by river pollution, including raw sewage.

"What they need to do is start using the funds they have to invest in appropriate infrastructure so they can put a halt to the sewage discharges," he said.

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."

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."