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

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what recent discussions his Department has had with Southern Water on tackling the illegal discharge of untreated sewage into waterways.

HM Government has been repeatedly clear that the current frequency of sewage discharges is unacceptable, and water companies must do much more to protect our environment. We will continue to work with water companies including Southern Water in the coming months to explore the acceleration of infrastructure projects to deliver the environmental improvements that we want to see.

Southern were handed a record £90 million fine after pleading guilty to thousands of illegal discharges of sewage which polluted rivers and coastal waters in Kent, Hampshire and Sussex. The regulators (the Environment Agency and Ofwat) have also recently 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.  ​HM Government will not hesitate to use all options for robust enforcement action against breaches of storm overflow permits.

We have also recently announced that we will bring forward plans to consult on increasing the amount the Environment Agency can directly fine water companies who pollute the environment by 1000-fold, from £250,000 up to £250million.