An overflow has been spilling sewage into a Broads river for nine days as storms swept across the county.
The wastewater has been discharged into the River Ant from a pipe in Horning, near St Benets ABbey, since Tuesday (November 19) according to Anglian Water's live monitoring of its assets.
The discharging began before Storm Bert's arrival in the UK and has continued while Norfolk has been pummelled by torrential rain in recent days.
The water firm has blamed persistent high groundwater levels, which have not subsided significantly since last year's record-breaking rainfall.
Horning is one of Anglian Water's more difficult locations to manage due to the low-lying nature of the Broads.
Water companies are allowed to release sewage via storm overflows at periods of exceptional weather to help protect homes and businesses against flooding.
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The storm overflow is located near the Knackers Wood sewage works and flows into the River Ant.
According to Anglian Water's live map, the spill is continuing although the duration of the 'event' was reset on Wednesday morning, after it had reached eight days and 12 hours.
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It follows the latest figures from the Environment Agency released earlier this year, which showed the same storm overflow had discharged into the River Ant for 1,747 hours in 2023 in 91 spills.
A spokeswoman for Anglian Water said: “The wet weather has been a contributor to the storm overflow activation. We take our environmental responsibilities very seriously, with significant investment and activity underway to tackle the CSO problem.
“For example, we are working at Horning Water Recycling Centre to upgrade technology and equipment to address problems caused by infiltration.
"This is because Horning has a very high water table and unstable ground conditions, meaning groundwater levels – which are still very high after last year’s historic wet winter – are causing ingress into our sewer network.
“We've made plans for £1bn of investment into directly tackling storm spills as part of our next business plan, totalling £9bn, which we're currently discussing with Ofwat.”
The incident follows recent years of intense scrutiny of water companies and the use of storm overflows to release sewage to ease pressures on the network.
A changing climate and increased rainfall are putting more pressure on water companies, while critics saying more investment is needed to stop the sewage spills.
Steffan Aquarone, MP for North Norfolk, said: "Last year we had over 530 sewage spills in North Norfolk and the current spill in Horning is reflective of the scale of the sewage issue.
"North Norfolk's wastewater is treated by dozens of different water treatment plants, many of them in situ since the 1970s, and until we get the investment that we need to upgrade them, we're going to continue to face the risk of sewerage spills in all corners of the constituency.
"I have demanded that Anglian Water invests more into our ageing sewage infrastructure which can no longer handle the increased amounts of rainwater brought on by climate change. This is the only way that we can finally stop sewage spills and protect our precious coastline."
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