I have today (11 December 2023) received a letter from the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs confirming that he has written to all of England’s water company CEOs to clearly set out that the sewage discharge into our waterways is unacceptable.
The Government's Plan for Water, sets out our commitment to go further and faster in taking action to improve our waters with more investment, stronger regulation and tougher enforcement. But water companies themselves must hold up their side of the bargain, and so in his letter, he has asked for further action at pace in the next 12 months to tackle sewage discharges as a priority. The Government's plans are summarised below:
Plan for Water
- In April this year, we published the Plan for Water, which marks a step-change in how we manage our waters.
- Our Plan for Water will transform the water system through more investment, stronger regulation, and tougher enforcement to deliver the clean and plentiful water the public expects.
- Through the plan, we are tackling every source of pollution, from agriculture to road run-off, to chemicals – as well as the pressures on our water resources as a result of hotter, drier summers and population growth. That means supporting our farmers to manage slurry and reduce run-off, improving water efficiency in our homes, banning harmful chemicals, and holding water companies to account.
Tackling Storm Overflows
- In August 2022 the Government launched the most ambitious plan to reduce sewage discharges from storm overflows in water company history. Following consultation, the government published an expanded Storm Overflows Discharge Reduction Plan on 25 September 2023 to cover storm overflows discharging to coastal and estuarine waters.
- This Plan will drive the largest infrastructure programme in water company history - £60 billion capital investment over 25 years.
- The Plan prioritises bathing waters and areas of high ecological importance for early action. It will eliminate ecological harm from all storm sewage discharges by 2050.
- Additionally, as part of the Plan for Water, over £2.2 billion of new, accelerated investment will be directed into vital infrastructure to improve water quality and secure future supplies, with £1.7bn of this being used to tackle storm overflows.
Regulation and Enforcement
- We are driving up monitoring and transparency so the public can see what is going on – we have increased the number of storm overflows monitored across the network from 7% in 2010, to 91% now, and with 100% expected by the end of the year.
- Water companies must not profit from environmental damage, and we have given the economic regulator Ofwat increased powers under the Environment Act 2021 to hold water companies to account for poor performance, and ensure company dividends and bonus payments are linked to environmental performance.
- We have been tough on requiring the water companies to deliver - and holding them to account when they do not. Since 2015, the Environment Agency has concluded 59 prosecutions, securing record fines of over £150 million against water companies. The Environment Agency has also launched the largest criminal investigation into unpermitted water company sewage discharges ever at over 2,200 treatment works.
- We have announced that fines and penalties will be redistributed into the Water Restoration Fund, to protect and enhance the water environment.