Drainage, water quality and storm overflows

UPDATE: 11th March

The amount of sewage being spilled into our rivers is completely unacceptable - and whilst the Government has taken tough action to tackle the use of storm overflows, there is more to do.

So I'm pleased to see the Government has today announced plans for water companies to fast-track investment of £180 million to stop more than 8,000 sewage spills over the next year. This funding will be invested in AI systems to help manage storm loads, the installation of thousands of new in-sewer monitors to check flow and spot blockages early, and the recruitment and training of specialist staff.

UPDATE: 20th February

I have written to the Chief Executive of Severn Trent Water regarding water bills after a constituent emailed me to share that his bill is due to increase by £55 in 2024/25 compared to 23/24.

I am advised that all of the service costs have increased in double % digits:

Full service - combined water and sewerage services - increasing by 14.7%, (around £6.00 per month.)
Water supply charges are increasing by 15.5%
Wastewater (sewerage) treatment charges are increasing by 13.9%

I've asked whether this price increase is occurring in isolation or constituents should expect an across-the-board bill increase.

UPDATE: 12th February

Pleased to see that Ofwat will be conducting a short consultation on banning bonuses for bosses of water companies following calls by the Environment Secretary that water company bosses to be banned from receiving bonuses if a company has committed serious criminal breaches.

This follows news that 10 water bosses received bonuses totalling £2.5 million last year.

The ban would apply to all executive board members and Chief Executives and would be expected to come into effect later this year, subject to consultation.

Criteria for a ban could include successful prosecution for a Category 1 or 2 pollution incident – such as causing significant pollution at a bathing site or conservation area – or where a company has been found guilty of serious management failings.

UPDATE: February 2024

I would like to take this opportunity to share an overview with you of the work being done to tackle the use of storm overflows.

First and foremost, the current volume of sewage being discharged into our water is unacceptable. But we must also consider the significant challenges. When it rains heavily raw sewage has two places to go: either back into your house or through the overflows. Those are the only options.

Revamping our Victorian-era sewage system is a monumental endeavour that cannot be accomplished overnight.

Separating sewage and rainwater systems comes at a staggering cost, estimated to be between £338 billion and £593 billion. This would cause considerable disruption and raise water bills significantly, at a time when people can least afford to have £'000s added to their bills.

The Government's plan is unparalleled. It sets stringent targets for water companies, introduces unlimited financial penalties for breaches, and initiates criminal investigations into non-compliance by water companies.

Action on Storm Overflows

The government’s Storm Overflow Discharge Reduction Plan sets stringent targets to reduce discharges from every single storm overflow in the country. It will drive the largest infrastructure programme in water company history - £60bn over the next 25 years.
The Plan for Water prioritises early action on bathing waters and areas of high ecological importance. It will eliminate ecological harm from all storm sewage discharges by 2050.
On 25 April 2023, we announced a legally binding target to crackdown on sewage spills from storm overflows.
Where water and sewerage companies have broken the law, the regulators will not hesitate to take robust action, including criminal prosecution.

Progress already achieved

We have increased the number of storm overflows monitored across the network from 7% in 2010 to 100% now monitored.
Since 2015, the Environment Agency has concluded 59 prosecutions, securing record fines of over £150 million against water companies.
We have legislated to introduce unlimited penalties on water companies who breach their environmental permits and expand the range of offences to which penalties can be applied.
The Environment Agency and Ofwat have 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.

UPDATE: 15th September 2023

A High Court judgement made today has confirmed that the Government has gone further than existing law by introducing targets to reduce the number of spills which exceed those required by law. These targets prioritise action in particularly important and sensitive areas - including around bathing waters, chalk streams and Special Areas of Conservation (SAC).

The Plan complements the Government’s long-term strategy to transform our water environment through the Plan for Water, driving forward more investment, stronger regulation and tougher enforcement.

UPDATE: 30th August 2023

Stopping the use of storm overflows is essential. But we must also consider the significant challenges. When it rains heavily raw sewage has two places to go: either back into your house or through the overflows. Those are the only options.

Revamping our Victorian-era sewage system is a monumental endeavour that cannot be accomplished overnight.

The Government's plan is unparalleled. It sets stringent targets for water companies, introduces unlimited financial penalties for breaches, and initiates criminal investigations into non-compliance by water companies. A game-changer.

UPDATE: 24th August 2023

Following false and reckless reports regarding the use of storm overflows in discharging sewage, I wanted to clarify the Government's position and the work being done to address this issue:

The Liberal Democrats have suggested that storm overflows be 'turned off' over the bank holiday weekend. This is a reckless suggestion that risks the safety of homes and businesses.

Storm overflows cannot just be ‘switched off’. They are an automatic feature designed to stop sewage backing up into properties.

They should only be used under strict permit conditions – and the Government is clear that the volume of sewage being discharged into our waters is utterly unacceptable.

That is why the Government's Plan for Water sets out more investment, stronger regulation and tougher enforcement to increase capacity in the network and tackle every source of pollution.

Last year 93% of bathing waters met the highest standards of ‘good’ or ‘excellent’, up from just 76% in 2010.

UPDATE: 26th April 2023

Yesterday morning I met with the Prime Minister to discuss the Government's work to stop sewage discharges from storm overflows.

Last night, I was pleased to vote for the motion which stated: “That this House calls on the Government to set a target for the reduction of sewage discharges, to provide for financial penalties in relation to sewage discharges and breaches of monitoring requirements, and to carry out an impact assessment of sewage discharges.”

You may have noted, that Labour and the Lib Dems abstained on the above vote – which you may think very strange given their vociferousness on this issue. Despite this, the vote went through 286 to 0.

In short, this was part to both sides of the House trying to play politics. You can read more about the commentary about the political manoeuvring (I must admit, both sides were at it!) here if you wish: Tories humiliate Labour in the Commons over anti-sewage motion | Politics | News | Express.co.uk

To the substance of the issue, the Government's Comprehensive and Integrated Plan for Water has a range of measures including:

Long-term catchment action plans to improve all water bodies in England.
A new Water Restoration Fund made up of monies from water company fines and penalties to support local group and projects
Increasing the scope and maximum penalty amount that the Environment Agency can issue against water companies for damaging the environment.
A ban, subject to consultation, on the sale of wet wipes, developing new proposals to restrict use of ‘forever’ chemicals, and doubling the money for slurry grant infrastructure for famers to £34 million.
Actions to secure a plentiful supply of water and closing the 4 billion litres of water a day supply-demand gap expected to be experienced by 2050.

UPDATE: 4th April 2023

Today the Government announced a new Plan For Water, which sets out a suite of new policy interventions designed to transform how we manage the water system while looking at both water quality and resources.

The Plan is focused on more investment, stronger regulation and tougher enforcement of water companies.

Speeding up water company investment worth £1.6 billion
Creating a new Water Restoration Fund backed by water company fines
Unlimited penalties for polluting waterways
Banning the use of plastic in wet wipes
More support for farmers with infrastructure

You can read more about it here: New plan for cleaner and more plentiful water - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk)

UPDATE: 22nd March 2023

This World Water Day I wanted to share 10 things with you that the Government is doing to tackle sewage discharges.

Let me be clear, the use of storm overflows for sewage discharge needs to stop. If I could, I would turn them off tomorrow but – without replacement infrastructure in place, which we don’t currently have – this would force sewage back into our nation’s homes and streets.

As you can probably appreciate, redesigning and improving the entire Victorian-era sewage system across the nation is not a small undertaking or something that can be fixed overnight.

Complete separation of our sewage and rainwater systems would cost anywhere £338 billion - £593bn and cause significant disruption.

Reducing discharges to zero in an average year at all inland waters using other options, such as building storage tanks (equivalent 40,000 Olympic swimming pools) would cost between £160bn- £240bn and significantly increase water bills. To put this number into perspective, the planned healthcare budget for England in 2022/23 is £178.5 billion.

This is something the Government takes extremely seriously and are are working hard to put in place far-reaching but fiscally responsible measures. You can read more about this work here:

INVESTMENT: Water companies are already investing £3.1 billion in storm overflow improvements between 2020 and 2025. This includes £1.9 billion investment on the Thames Tideway Tunnel super sewer, with the rest used to undertake over 800 investigations and over 800 improvement schemes to storm overflows.
LONG TERM, FULLY FUNDED PLAN: The Government's Storm Overflows Discharge Reduction Plan which will secure £56 billion capital investment by 2050, requiring water companies to undertake the largest infrastructure programme in water company history.
NEW TOUGH TARGETS: New strict targets will see the toughest ever crack down on sewage spills. 
DETAILED ACTION PLANS: In February the Environment Secretary demanded water and sewerage companies set an action plan on every storm overflow in England.
INCREASED MONITORING: The Government has increased the number of storm overflows monitored across the network from only 7% in 2010 to almost 90% now, reaching 100% cover by the end of this year.
TOUGHER PENALTIES: the Department for Environment, Farming and Rural Affairs (DEFRA) recently announced that water companies will face higher penalties, which are quicker and easier to enforce. With a consultation set to launch in the Spring.
RECORD BREAKING FINES: Record fines have been secured for water companies that break the law. Since 2015, the Environment Agency has secured fines of over £142m through criminal proceedings.
POLLUTER PAYS: Fines and penalties secured from water companies will be reinvested into restoring our rivers and cleaning up the mess they made.
TACKLING DIVIDENDS: On Monday Ofwat announced new Government-backed powers that enable it to take enforcement action against water companies that do not link dividend payments to performance.
BOOSTING ENFORCEMENT: DEFRA has boosted funding for the Environment Agency with £2.2 million per year specifically for water company enforcement activity so that robust action is taken against illegal breaches of storm overflow permits. The EA also receives funding for monitoring and regulation through water company licences – it is not all reliant on government.

UPDATE: 30th January 2023

Disappointed to see political posturing and misinformation from the Liberal Democrats on this once again.

This Government is doing more than any Government ever before to tackle water pollution, increase fines and improve the environment.

A growing population, Victorian infrastructure and an increase in extreme weather events has brought the frequency of discharges and use of overflows to an unacceptable level. We know this and have brought forward plans to tackle it. But there is no overnight or easy fix.

Complete separation of our sewage and rainwater systems would cost anywhere £338 billion - £593bn and cause significant disruption.

The use of storm overflows becomes necessary when there's increased and prolonged pressure on our Victorian systems. And, importantly, if we weren't to rely on overflows the sewage be forced back into our homes or through the drains in our streets.

So what is the Government doing to tackle this?

Since 2015, the Environment Agency have concluded 56 prosecutions against water and sewerage companies securing fines of over £141m.

Since 2016 we've increased the number of sewage discharge monitors from 6% to almost 90%, with 100% by the end of this year. That's why the numbers of incidents are increasing.

In August 2022, we launched the Storm Overflows Discharge Reduction Plan which requires water companies to make their largest ever investment into water infrastructure – a £56 billion capital investment by 2050.

The regulators (the Environment Agency and Ofwat) have recently launched the largest ever criminal and civil investigations into sewage discharges, at over 2200 treatment works, following new data as a result of increased monitoring

By 2035, water companies will have to improve all storm overflows discharging into or near every designated bathing water; and improve 75% of overflows discharging to high priority nature sites.

UPDATE: 13th January 2023

I welcome the Government's recommendation to make sustainable drainage systems mandatory to new developments in England. This will reduce the risk of surface water flooding, pollution and help alleviate the pressures on our traditional drainage and sewerage systems.

UPDATE: 12th October 2022

Today, in PMQs, I was pleased to hear the Prime Minister's response to Angela Richardson, the MP for Guildford, referring to the action the Government is taking to tackle sewage pollution in our waterways.

You can watch their interaction here: Government increases fines for pollution of waterways up to £250 million - YouTube

UPDATE: 5th October 2022

I was pleased to see the Environment Secretary, Ranil Jayawardena, announce plans to drastically increase fines for sewage pollution in our waterways from £250,000 to £250 million.

As Ranil said, the failure of water companies to stop pollution pouring into our waterways is unacceptable.

You can read more about the plans here: Water companies face new penalties up to £250million - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk)

UPDATE: 29th August 2022

The Government has announced a strict set of targets for water companies to tackle sewage pollution in our waterways.

The plan will require such companies to deliver their largest ever environmental infrastructure investment, worth £56 billion over 25 years.

UPDATE: 23rd August 2022

Here's an update from the Department of Environment, Food and Rural Affairs on what action the Government is taking: Government action against sewage discharges from storm overflows - Defra in the media (blog.gov.uk)

I have been made aware of recent media reports about this issue, and I have followed this up with Severn Trent Water. I will update this page once I receive their response.

UPDATE: 31st March 2022

As part of the Environment Act 2021, the Government intends to produce a Storm Overflow Discharge Reduction Plan by September 2022 to tackle the issue of sewage discharges, and are asking for the public's views.

The people of Bosworth have rightly raised their concerns regarding the ecological and public health harm from storm overflows. I strongly encourage constituents to have their say as this is an opportunity to influence the largest programme to tackle storm sewage discharges in history.

You can have your say here: https://consult.defra.gov.uk/water-industry/storm-overflows-discharge-reduction-plan/

The consultation closes 12th May.

UPDATE: 15th March 2022

Thank you for those who have got in contact on this issue, and I start from the position that I do not need convincing as to the importance of ensuring clean and healthy rivers, I have seen the effects in my clinical experience as a doctor.

I must admit, I have been frustrated by the way this debate has transpired and the nature of how this has been portrayed by some areas of the media.

Nonetheless, I am pleased with the latest updates on water quality:

Results have found that 99% of bathing waters in England have passed water quality standards following testing of over 400 designated sites carried out by the Environment Agency – the highest number since new standards were introduced in 2015.

I understand many constituents remain concerned about pollution going into our rivers, and work continues as the Environment Act recently became law creating legally binding requirements on water companies, but I am pleased that progress is being made.

With the additional £4.3 billion received in the latest Spending Review by the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, I am pleased the Environment Agency is now monitoring 80% of storm overflows which will increase to 100% in 2023.

After major investigations suggesting that some water companies may not be complying with permits, the Environment Agency has brought 48 prosecutions since 2015, including a record £90 million fine for Southern Water company in July 2021.

You can find out more here: Bathing water quality statistics - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk)

I have been in useful dialogue with Severn Trent Water and the Environment Agency about this issue. Most recently, I was pleased to visit and meet with representatives from Severn Trent at a water processing plant in Hinckley to find out more about their crucial work to manage our water supply. I was pleased to hear about the sites new plans, including £25 million of investment to improve water quality in the areas nearby, and plans to boost biodiversity.

Severn Trent as a whole delivers almost 2 billion litres of water every day and maintains 92,000km of sewer pipes, with the Hinckley site serving 45,000 residents. I am pleased they have been awarded the top 4* rating by the Environment Agency for environmental performance and will be investing £1.5 billion on environmental initiatives including the Great Big Nature Boost.

Government work in this area

In July this year, the Government set out its expectation that OFWAT should incentivise water companies to invest with the view to significantly reduce the use of storm overflows in the forthcoming pricing review period. OFWAT will be required to act in accordance with this expectation. This policy position will be an additional clause in the Environment Bill to underline the action the government is taking.

I also think that it is important to fully note that the landmark Environment Act 2021 includes:

A new duty on Government to produce a statutory plan to reduce discharges from storm overflows and their adverse impact and report back to Parliament on progress.
For Government to produce a report setting action to eliminate discharges from storm overflows in England. Both publications are required before 1 September 2022.
A new duty directly on water companies and the Environment Agency to publish data on storm overflow operation on an annual basis.
A new duty directly on water companies to publish near real time information on the operation of storm overflows.
A new duty directly on water companies to monitor the water quality upstream and downstream of storm overflows and sewage disposal works.
A new duty directly on water companies to produce comprehensive statutory Drainage and Sewerage Management Plans about how they will manage and develop their drainage and sewerage system over a minimum 25-year planning horizon.
Powers for the Government to direct water companies in relation to the actions in the Drainage and Sewerage Management Plans.

Lords Amendment

There was a lot of debate in recent months regarding specific amendments within the Environment Bill, now passed into law, and I believe it would be remiss of me to not clarify the Government's position on this.

I think that politicians from both sides of the house are keen to listen and make change so I have been pleased that the Government will write what was already government policy into law to give people the necessary reassurance.

A lot of the miscommunication is around the amendment and what was proposed. This is technical but I have put the direct context here from the debate so you can see what was said. In essence, only part of amendment 45 from the lords was excepted, with lines 7-14 omitted. Why? Because there was no costed or practical plan on how to deliver the changes.

To explain a little further.

In responding to a question regarding how much cost would be added to the consumers’ water bills, DEFRA Minister Rebecca Pow explained:

"As an approximate estimate, to get rid of or eliminate storm sewage overflows would cost between—these are very wide figures—£150 billion and £660 billion. One must consider the cost of bills, because there will be an impact on those.”

The Minister further explains the reasoning for not supporting the Lords amendment;

“I am outlining what we have put into the Bill since it was last here to demonstrate how we will be reducing the harm from these sewage storm overflows. The cumulative impact of all this will be to actually address the issue that we all so want to address. Crucially, we will have sewerage management plans in which water companies will have to explain and detail how they are going to be delivering a resilient sewerage system. We expect those plans to include considered actions for reducing storm overflows and their harm in line with the ambition set out in the Bill.”

Further still, the Government is working outside the scope of the Bill, notably with the water regulator Ofwat expecting it to “incentivise water companies to significantly reduce the frequency and volume of sewage discharges from storm overflows.” As part of this, the Minister explains that “for the first time ever, we have put at the top of the agenda that it will have to get the water companies to address storm sewage overflows.”

You can read the full debate here.

It is therefore self-evident that the problem is about having a funded realistic plan to deal with our Victorian aged sewage system. I do not doubt the Government’s stance about the following:

Initial assessments suggest that total elimination would cost anywhere from £150 billion to £600 billion involving the complete separation of sewerage systems.
Such work would cause potentially significant disruption for homes, businesses and infrastructure across the country.
Customer bill increases, possibly many hundreds of pounds as well as other trade-offs against other water industry priorities would be unavoidable.

Further to this, as alluded to in the Hansard exchange, there are measures being put in place which are outside the scope of this bill.