Latest news with #sewage pollution
BBC News
9 hours ago
- Politics
- BBC News
Government promises to halve sewage pollution in next five years
The UK government has promised to cut sewage pollution from water companies in half by pledge, made by Environment Secretary Steve Reed, comes as a report looking into how water companies in England and Wales work has been independent report looked at things like increased sewage spills and higher water bills for has made a number of recommendations to change how water companies in England and Wales work in the future. What has the government announced? The pledge to halve sewage spills by 2030 relates to 2024 levels, which was a record year for the duration of spills. Mr Reed said: "Families have watched their local rivers, coastlines and lakes suffer from record levels of pollution."My pledge to you: the Government will halve sewage pollution from water companies by the end of the decade."Sewage is the waste that comes from our toilets, baths, showers, and goes through a network of pipes and ends up in a sewage treatment works. This is where the wastewater is cleaned, so it can safely go back into our rivers and if it's raining a lot, sewage treatment works can become overwhelmed with wastewater and this happens, water companies have permission to release some raw sewage - that's sewage that hasn't been treated yet - back into rivers and year, sewage was released into England's rivers and seas for 3.6 million hours in total, and the number of recorded spills stood at around 450, Environment Minister Steve Reed said the announcement marks the first time ministers have set a clear target on reducing sewage pollution. The Government also announced plans for £104 billion to be invested into upgrading damaged pipes and building new treatment works. However, other political parties have criticised the plans and say that more needs to done to stop water bills from rising. Conservative shadow environment secretary Victoria Atkins said: "Labour came to power with big promises to reform the water system, but so far, they have simply copied previous Conservative government policy and have done nothing to stop water bill rises."Labour must be transparent about where the £104 billion investment is coming from as some will come through customer bill rises," Ms Atkins added. What has the report recommended? An increasing number of sewage spillages and the rising cost of water bills led to the investigation by the independent Water report has made 88 recommendations to change the water industry in England and a result of the report, the government has announced plans to close water regulator is a way of keeping water companies in check to make sure they deliver for billpayers and the the government says Ofwat have not done enough to hold water companies to Secretary Steve Reed, says this move will end the "complexity" that is hurting report suggests having a single water regulator in England and a single water regulator in report also warns people that water bills might have to rise in the future and recommends the introduction of compulsory smart would work in a similar way to how energy meters currently work, where people would be charged for the water they use rather than paying a flat fee. What has the reaction to the report been? In response to the news, the Liberal Democrats have said they support the Government's decision to scrap the current water spokesperson Tim Farron said: "This is a big win for the Liberal Democrats who have led the campaign against the sewage scandal for years. "Since 2022 we have called for Ofwat to be replaced with a tougher regulator, now finally the government appears to have listened."However, some campaigners have said the report and recommendations don't go far Action said the Independent Water Commission "blinked" when it had a "once-in-a-generation" chance to make major to its chief executive James Wallace, the report merely offers "the illusion of change, not real change."The Consumer Council for Water (CCW) added the industry has "drained" the public's trust because of service failures and poor environmental performance.
BBC News
3 days ago
- Business
- BBC News
Welsh Water sewage spills at highest in 10 years, NRW data shows
Welsh Water has recorded the highest number of sewage pollution incidents in 10 years, new data shows. The figures, released by Natural Resources Wales (NRW) on Friday, showed the water company was responsible for 155 pollution incidents in 2024 - 23 relating to water supply and 132 to sewerage - an increase of 42% in the past 10 years, it has called on Dwr Cymru Welsh Water to make "urgent and fundamental changes to its operations", adding it had seen a "huge deterioration" in the performance of the company since Water accepted its performance "is not where it needs to be" and said it was accelerating investment in key areas to reduce pollution incidents. Despite the data showing a drop in water supply incidents in recent years, sewage incidents have increased from 89 in 2022 to 107 in 2023 and 132 in 2024. Of the total number of incidents, NRW said Welsh Water was responsible for six serious category one or two incidents - a drop from seven last year. Five of these were from sewerage assets and were all category analysis over the last 10 years also showed the main source of incidents were from foul sewers (423), storm overflows (168) and water treatment works (166).Since 2010, Welsh Water has been legally responsible for monitoring its water quality at its treatment plants and submitting its results to NRW. But in May, it was fined £1.35m for failing to properly monitor water quality at 300 different sites. Nadia De Longhi, head of regulation and permitting at NRW, said despite "repeated warnings and interventions" Welsh Water had been "unable to reverse this concerning trend"."This has left us with no choice but to pursue a number of prosecutions against the company which have recently concluded," Ms De Longhi added. "This is not the outcome we want, nor the best outcome for the environment – our priority will always be to bring companies into compliance and prevent environmental damage from happening in the first place."Welsh Water must address the root cause of these pollution incidents and take preventative measures before more harm is done to the water environment."NRW added it would be increasing its capacity for monitoring and auditing discharges, as well as clamping down on unpermitted storm overflows and introducing tighter criteria for annual performance reporting. In a statement, a Welsh Water spokesperson said the industry across the UK had seen increases in pollution incidents but acknowledged the concerns raised in the report. They said the company had improved their processes to meet the challenge, including "better monitoring leading to detecting more short-lived events and better reporting". The statement added: "We are accelerating investment in key areas to reduce pollution incidents with a £4bn investment programme that includes £2.5bn on environmental projects."While we have made progress, such as increasing the number of incidents we find and self-reporting, we know more needs to be done."We remain committed to working constructively with NRW to deliver improvements and will be engaging closely on their new requirements and guidance, including the development of pollution incident reduction plans and further use of smart technology to spot problems in the sewer network before they can cause a pollution."
Times
6 days ago
- Business
- Times
We face nationalisation if we're not let off fines, Thames Water warns
Thames Water has warned ministers that it will have to be bailed out by the taxpayer if it is not let off the hook for over a billion pounds in fines for environmental pollution and other failures. Britain's biggest water company has admitted that its sewage pollution incidents increased by a third last year, to 470, and said that it had been in 'crisis mode' for two years. However, Chris Weston, its chief executive, told MPs that the company needed an exemption from the £1.4 billion in fines he expects the regulators, Ofwat and the Environment Agency, to impose for future breaches of environmental and performance rules. Asked why Thames deserved to be a special exception, Weston argued that water regulation needed to offer a reprieve for all struggling companies. 'If we don't find a solution to it, then there is a good chance that we will go into SAR,' he said, referring to a special administration regime, a type of emergency nationalisation for companies providing essential public services.
