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

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what recent steps he has taken to help ensure that untreated sewage is not discharged into rivers, inland waterways and the sea.

On 26 August, the Government published a Storm Overflows Discharge Reduction Plan. This plan outlines strict targets which will see the toughest ever crack down on sewage spills and will require water companies to deliver the largest infrastructure programme in water company history - £56 billion capital investment over 25 years. 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. By 2050, this will apply to all remaining storm overflows covered by our targets, regardless of location.

The operation of storm overflows is regulated by permits issued by the Environment Agency. The new targets will be underpinned by changes to the conditions in these permits, which will greatly reduce when and how overflows can be used. We have also increased the number of storm overflows monitored across the network from 5% in 2016 to almost 90% now monitored, and we will reach 100% cover by end of next year.

Our Plan will protect biodiversity, the ecology of our rivers and seas, and the public health of our water users for generations to come. There should be no doubt about the Government’s ambition and determination to tackle storm overflows and sewage discharges.