The UK Must Start to Take Sewage Discharges Seriously!

The UK's privatised Water Companies are officially permited to discharge untreated sewage into rivers and the seas. It's only supposed to happen, however, under exceptional circumstances, when rainfall is torrential and prolonged. There's long been a suspicion that some companies increase their discharges simply to boost their profits. If the material is discharged, money doesn't have to be spent treating it. Analysis of data, confirms that more than 2000 overflows, owned by a number of the Water Companies, routinely discharge raw sewage into rivers and the sea. Last year, they collectively discharged sewage for 3.6m hours. This can't be simply linked to extreme weather events and the amount is increasing year-on-year (https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2024/mar/27/environmental-groups-urge-regulator-to-act-over-record-sewage-discharge). This record rate of raw sewage discharge, should have resulted in immediate action by the Environment Agency and Ofwat (the customer protection body). Their investigations have been going on for more than 2 years. Nothing has been published and no Water Company has been seriously prosecuted. One might think that both these bodies are largely toothless. They are certainly not preventing lasting damage to natural systems.