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

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, if he will introduce a statutory duty for water companies to display pollution alerts near bathing waters for at least 48 hours after a sewage discharge event.

We currently have no plans to introduce such a statutory duty. Local authorities are required to display signage providing the classification of all designated bathing waters. Throughout the bathing season, the Environment Agency will issue warnings of any forecasted pollution risk on its Swimfo website, covering over 170 sites. Signs are also put up at these swimming spots to inform bathers about a possible dip in quality as a result of factors like rainfall, wind and high tides. Members of the public can also access real time information on water quality using data on storm overflow spills direct from water companies using the Safer Seas app, a collaboration between Surfers Against Sewage and the Environment Agency.