Campaign Reply: Sewage

I have long campaigned for better water quality and have been a member of Surfers Against Sewage for dozen years, or more.  I agree, the current use of sewage discharges is unacceptable. Tackling storm overflows is a priority and the Government is committed to protecting public health and the environment from discharges.

This is the first Government to take steps to address storm overflows, starting with the landmark Environment Bill. From this, in August 2022, the Government launched the Storm Overflows Discharge Reduction Plan, which will require water companies to deliver their largest ever environmental infrastructure investment - £56 billion over 25 years. This is an ambitious plan which prioritises storm overflows that have the potential to cause the most harm while balancing the impact on consumer bills.

Water companies will be required to take measures such as increasing the capacity of their networks and treating sewage before it is discharged, while massively reducing all discharges. Water companies are investing £3.1 billion to deliver the 800 storm overflow improvements across England by 2025. I am assured that Ministers are working with water companies to accelerate these projects.

By 2035, water companies will have to improve all storm overflows discharging into or near every designated bathing water and improve 75 per cent of overflows discharging to high priority nature sites. By 2050, this will apply to all remaining storm overflows covered by our targets, regardless of location. Ministers will review the plan in 2027 to consider further improvement, taking account of innovation and efficiencies. The Government will not hesitate to go further and faster if needed.

The Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs has asked water company bosses to submit their plans for every storm overflow in the country, prioritising those that have the potential to cause the most harm, such as those that discharge most, or those that discharge into priority nature sites or bathing waters.

The water regulators (the Environment Agency and Ofwat) recently launched the largest criminal and civil investigations into water company sewage discharges ever, at over 2200 treatment works, following new data coming to light as a result of the increased monitoring, which has been driven by the Government. Ofwat can fine companies up to 10 per cent of annual turnover. The Environment Agency will act against non-compliance, which can include criminal prosecution for which there can be unlimited fines. 

Courts also have legal powers to prosecute CEOs and company directors where there is evidence against those individuals and where it is in the public interest to prosecute. In 2022, the Government announced plans to expand the use if, and raise the cap on fines that the Environment Agency can issue, meaning sanctions can be imposed more often without lengthy and costly court cases.

The plan stipulates that water companies should publish discharge information in near real time as well as committing to tackling the root causes of the issue by improving surface water drainage. The plan also sets out Ministers’ wider expectations for the water industry, to ensure their infrastructure keeps pace with increasing external pressures, such as urban growth and climate change and to ensure our water supplies remain clean and secure for the future.

To crack down on water pollution, the Government has boosted funding for the Environment Agency (EA), with £2.2 million per year specifically for water company enforcement activity. In 2022, the EA and Ofwat launched the largest criminal and civil investigations into water company sewage discharges ever, at over 2200 treatment works, following new data coming to light as a result of increased monitoring. Investigations look at where sites may be breaching their permits and ensure that companies found to be acting illegally are held to account, up to and including prosecution, which can lead to unlimited fines and companies having to reimburse customers. This follows 56 prosecutions against water companies since 2015, securing fines of nearly £141 million.

At present, money from these fines is returned to the Treasury. However, I am aware of new plans to channel money from water company fines into environmental improvements. This could include initiatives to restore our water environments by creating wetlands, re-vegetating river banks and reconnecting meanders to the main channel of rivers. In November 2022, Ofwat announced that almost £135 million would be returned to customers as a result of companies underperforming against their performance commitments.