Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what steps the Environment Agency takes in the event that a water company discharges untreated sewage into UK waterways and coastal regions outside periods of heavy rainfall; and how many water companies have faced enforcement action for those discharges since 2015.

Storm overflows must only be used under strict permitted conditions that control their environmental impact. The Environment Agency investigates breaches of permit conditions and considers all circumstances surrounding a breach and applies its published Enforcement and Sanctions policy in determining its enforcement response. This can be found at: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/environment-agency-enforcement-and[1]sanctions-policy

We are holding the industry to account on a scale never seen before. Since 2015 the Environment Agency has successfully prosecuted seven water companies for breaching permit conditions relating to storm discharges, with some companies prosecuted multiple times. A number of the cases brought together several offences within a single prosecution and included discharges that occurred outside of heavy rainfall conditions or that were caused by sewer blockages or pump failures.

In November 2021, new information came to light suggesting that some water companies in England may indeed not be complying with their permits, resulting in excess sewage spills into the environment, even in dry periods. On account of this, Ofwat and the Environment Agency launched major investigations into all water and wastewater companies in England and Wales. If proven, water companies will be in breach of their permits and failing to meet their legal duties. Government, along with the sector’s regulators, will not hesitate to hold companies to account if this is the case.

The Environment Agency and new duties in the landmark Environment Act have driven increased monitoring and reporting of storm overflows. The Act places new duties directly on water companies to publish spill data in near real time and monitor water quality impacts upstream and downstream of all storm overflows and wastewater treatment works. Almost nine in ten storm overflows already have monitoring devices installed, and all overflows will have monitors by the end of 2023. This technology provides vital information about the use of storm overflows, which can be used to hold water companies to account and drive environmental protections and future investment. £1.1billion of investment is already planned for the next four years.

The Government is currently consulting on the Storm Overflows Discharge Reduction Plan which outlines a step change in how water companies tackle the number of discharges of untreated sewage. The Government has been clear that the current use of sewage overflows is completely unacceptable and we will not hesitate to take further action if we don’t see the pace of change we expect to see.