Found: It is because they are still polluted by sewage.

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

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what assessment he has made of the potential impact of (a) sewage and (b) other contaminants in the river system on the food chain.

Answered by Robbie Moore - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)

The Government's Storm Overflows Discharge Reduction Plan (SODRP) was extended in 2023 with further stringent targets on the use of storm overflows to protect people and the environment, prioritising for early action areas used for bathing, for growing shellfish, or with high ecological importance.

This plan will eliminate ecological harm from all storm sewage discharges by 2050, protecting biodiversity the ecology of our rivers and seas, and the public health of our water users for generations to come. In addition to the formulation of the SODRP, we produced an impact assessment which assesses the quality of evidence regarding environmental, public health and social impacts of storm overflow operation.

The SODRP targets will be reviewed in 2027 when new information is available to see if water companies can go further or faster.

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

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, when he expects sewage releases into (a) the River Foss, (b) the River Ouse and (c) their tributaries to stop.

Answered by Robbie Moore - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)

The Government is clear that the amount of sewage currently being discharged into our waters is unacceptable. Through the government’s Storm Overflows Discharge Reduction Plan, we have set stringent targets for water companies to reduce the use of storm overflows. Our Plan will eliminate ecological harm from all storm sewage discharges by 2050.

In 2023 the Environment Agency carried out 17 targeted compliance inspections of Yorkshire Water’s waste-water treatment works which discharge into the Foss/Ouse and their tributaries.

Within the current Price Review Period, which runs from 2020 to 2025, Yorkshire Water will be improving Hutton and Stillington treatment works, which discharge into the Foss catchment, in order to ensure they comply with requirements under the Water Framework Directive (WFD). These improvements should reduce Phosphorus from the final effluent, and drive improvement of the WFD status.

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

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what steps he is taking to provide public health warnings over the risk to (a) people and (b) animals of entering rivers into which sewage has been released.

Answered by Robbie Moore - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)

The Government directed water companies to increase their storm overflow monitoring in 2013 and achieved 100% event duration monitoring (EDM) coverage before the end of 2023. EDM data shows when storm overflows are discharging, and how long discharges have lasted for. The wealth of data collected from these monitors will ensure that we know the full extent of the problem – increasing transparency, revealing the worst-offending overflows, and enabling regulators to hold polluters to account.

In addition, the Environment Agency takes over 7,000 samples each year at England’s 424 designated bathing waters, which are used to determine the annual bathing water classifications. These classifications are displayed on signage at bathing waters and online on the Environment Agency’s Swimfo website, to allow bathers to make informed decisions before entering the water. If there is a pollution incident, a notification is posted on the Swimfo website and on signage at the bathing water. Throughout the bathing season, the Environment Agency makes daily pollution risk forecasts for a number of bathing waters, where water quality may be temporarily reduced due to factors such as heavy rainfall, wind or the tide. When a temporary reduction in water quality is forecast, the Environment Agency issues a pollution risk warning and advice against bathing, enabling bathers to avoid times or locations where the risk of pollution is higher than normal and health risks from bathing may be higher than the annual classification suggests. To reduce risk to health from bathing waters, the UK Health Security Agency and the Environment Agency offer advice in their ‘Swim Healthy’ guidance, which is available to read before making any decision on swimming.

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 take steps to move water companies that do not restrict sewage spills under an operator of last resort.

Answered by Robbie Moore - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)

There is no operator of last resort for water companies. Ofwat monitors the performance and financial position of all water companies and publishes results on these annually. Ofwat will take action when water company performance is not at the level Government expect, or if their investors need to strengthen their long-term financial resilience.

This Government is holding the water industry to account on a scale never seen before. 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. Furthermore, on 20 February, the Government and Environment Agency (EA) announced that they will quadruple the number of water company inspections to crack down on poor performing companies.

We will continue to hold water companies to account and if there are illegal breaches of permits, the regulators will not hesitate to take robust action.

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

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, whether he has made an assessment of the potential merits of infrastructure in preventing sewage releases into rivers.

Answered by Robbie Moore - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)

Through the Government’s Storm Overflows Discharge Reduction Plan, we have set stringent targets for water companies to reduce the use of storm overflows, driving the largest infrastructure programme in water company history of £60 billion over 25 years. We expect water companies to utilise a natural capital approach, considering carbon reduction and biodiversity net gain, as well as catchment level and nature-based solutions in their planning where possible.

Water company investment in environmental improvements has been scaled up to £7.1 billion over the period 2020 – 25. This includes £3.1 billion invested in storm overflow improvements specifically. Moreover, we expect water companies to use the next five-year Price Review period (2025-2030) to set bold and ambitious plans that deliver for people and the environment.

On 11 March, the Government announced additional fast-tracked investment of £180m over the next 12 months into improving sewer infrastructure. This is expected to prevent more than 8000 sewage spills polluting English waterways.

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

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what steps is he taking to neutralise sewage in rivers.

Answered by Robbie Moore - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)

Through the Government's expanded Storm Overflows Discharge Reduction Plan, published in September 2023, we have set stringent targets for water companies to reduce their use of storm overflows.

The Plan requires that water companies must significantly reduce harmful pathogens from storm overflows discharging near designated bathing waters, by either: applying disinfection; or reducing the frequency of discharges to meet Environment Agency spill standards by 2035. It also sets out that water companies will only be permitted to discharge from a storm overflow where they can demonstrate that there is no local adverse ecological impact. This target must be achieved for all storm overflows in England by 2050.

Furthermore, new provisions in the Water Industry Act, inserted by the Levelling-up and Regeneration Act 2023, will address pollution at source by placing a new statutory duty on water companies in designated catchments to upgrade wastewater treatment works by 2030, reducing the impact of sewage on our waterways and the people who use them.

Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:

To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, whether the nutrient neutrality policies of the local planning authorities around the Solent assist Southern Water in its efforts to control the effect of discharges of sewage into rivers and the sea.

Answered by Stuart Andrew - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Culture, Media and Sport)

Nutrient Neutrality, through the provision of mitigation, ensures that development does not contribute additional nutrient loads to the Solent catchment, avoiding additional harm and so adverse effects to habitats sites.

My department and DEFRA have established a cross-Government task force to tackle nutrient pollution and enable development to continue. The cross-Government taskforce continues to identify the range of options in the short, medium and long term. Defra having recently published the Strategic Policy Statement to Ofwat, making clear that Ofwat and water companies should consider nutrients pollution in line with their environmental duties, which include duties under the Habitat Regulations; working with wider stakeholders to support efforts to tackle nutrients pollution.

Defra together with the Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, Natural England, the Environment Agency, the Forestry Commission and the Partnership for South Hampshire (PfSH) are working with EnTrade to develop a nutrient trading pilot project in the Solent region. The project aims to connect developers, who need to offset pollution from new developments, with landowners willing to undertake land use change to reduce pollution. This will help to unblock housing delivery whilst avoiding further harm to important protected wildlife sites and delivering wider environmental benefits.

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

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what assessment he has made of the effectiveness of regulations on water providers on notifying customers of sewage discharges those companies are responsible for into rivers and watercourses.

Answered by Rebecca Pow - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)

Working with water companies, the Environment Agency has concluded a programme to install Event Duration Monitors (EDM) on the vast majority of storm overflows, just over 80% of overflows in England, by the end of 2020. These monitors provide a robust and consistent way of monitoring how often and for how long storm overflows are used. By the end of 2023, the remaining number will be monitored.

Our landmark Environment Act places a direct duty on Water Companies and the Environment Agency to publish this sewage discharge data, building on the commitments to openness and transparency made through the Defra led Storm Overflows taskforce. This data was published for the first time in March 2021 for data in 2020.

The Environment Act also goes further, requiring water companies to monitor both the upstream and downstream impacts of their assets and to notify of spills in near real time (within 1 hour). The government will be bringing forward implementing legislation in respect of these duties in due course. The Storm Overflows Discharge Reduction Plan, also legislated for in the Environment Act, is due to be published in September 2022.

It will be up to individual water companies to take account of the Storm Overflows Discharge Reduction Plan and other guidance when considering specific local projects to be included as part of their business plans.

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

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what assessment he has made of the potential merits of requiring water providers to produce live day-to-day reporting of sewage discharges into rivers and watercourses they are responsible for.

Answered by Rebecca Pow - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)

Working with water companies, the Environment Agency has concluded a programme to install Event Duration Monitors (EDM) on the vast majority of storm overflows, just over 80% of overflows in England, by the end of 2020. These monitors provide a robust and consistent way of monitoring how often and for how long storm overflows are used. By the end of 2023, the remaining number will be monitored.

Our landmark Environment Act places a direct duty on Water Companies and the Environment Agency to publish this sewage discharge data, building on the commitments to openness and transparency made through the Defra led Storm Overflows taskforce. This data was published for the first time in March 2021 for data in 2020.

The Environment Act also goes further, requiring water companies to monitor both the upstream and downstream impacts of their assets and to notify of spills in near real time (within 1 hour). The government will be bringing forward implementing legislation in respect of these duties in due course. The Storm Overflows Discharge Reduction Plan, also legislated for in the Environment Act, is due to be published in September 2022.

It will be up to individual water companies to take account of the Storm Overflows Discharge Reduction Plan and other guidance when considering specific local projects to be included as part of their business plans.

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

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, whether he has made an assessment of the potential merits of instructing the Environment Agency to require water providers to publish their mapped sewage pollution data for areas in which they have sewage outlets in rivers or watercourses.

Answered by Rebecca Pow - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)

Working with water companies, the Environment Agency has concluded a programme to install Event Duration Monitors (EDM) on the vast majority of storm overflows, just over 80% of overflows in England, by the end of 2020. These monitors provide a robust and consistent way of monitoring how often and for how long storm overflows are used. By the end of 2023, the remaining number will be monitored.

Our landmark Environment Act places a direct duty on Water Companies and the Environment Agency to publish this sewage discharge data, building on the commitments to openness and transparency made through the Defra led Storm Overflows taskforce. This data was published for the first time in March 2021 for data in 2020.

The Environment Act also goes further, requiring water companies to monitor both the upstream and downstream impacts of their assets and to notify of spills in near real time (within 1 hour). The government will be bringing forward implementing legislation in respect of these duties in due course. The Storm Overflows Discharge Reduction Plan, also legislated for in the Environment Act, is due to be published in September 2022.

It will be up to individual water companies to take account of the Storm Overflows Discharge Reduction Plan and other guidance when considering specific local projects to be included as part of their business plans.

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

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, how much raw sewage has been discharged into chalk streams in the last 12 months.

Answered by Rebecca Pow - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)

The Environment Agency does not hold the data for the volume of sewage released by storm overflows.

Working with water companies, the Environment Agency has concluded a programme to install Event Duration Monitors (EDM) on the vast majority of storm overflows, just over 80% of overflows in England, by the end of 2020. These monitors provide a robust and consistent way of monitoring how often and for how long storm overflows are used but do not measures volume. By the end of 2023, the remaining number will be monitored.

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

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what guidance he has issued to Ofwat on accelerating the ending of routine discharge of raw sewage into English rivers by water companies.

Answered by Rebecca Pow - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)

Earlier this year the Government consulted on a set of strategic priorities for Ofwat, the independent economic regulator for the water industry. The draft strategic policy statement (SPS) sets out the direction from the Government that water companies must take steps to "significantly reduce sewage discharges from storm overflows". This is the first time any government has set out this expectation for water companies to prioritise their reliance on storm overflows to discharge sewage. The SPS strongly influences investment decisions and is one of the Government's key tools in driving action from water companies. The Government expects to publish the final SPS in early 2022.

Government has also announced that it will put the direction set out in the SPS on a statutory footing with a new duty on water companies to progressively reduce impacts of sewage discharges.

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

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, when he expects water companies to end the routine discharge of raw sewage into English rivers.

Answered by Rebecca Pow - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)

Eliminating harm from storm overflows is a Government priority, but we know that it will involve significant change and take time to achieve. The age of our Victorian sewerage system means a complete elimination of discharges from storm overflows would be extremely challenging and require full separation of pipes across the country, alongside other additional infrastructure. Initial assessments suggest this would cost over £150 billion according to the Storm Overflows Evidence Project, commissioned by the Storm Overflows Taskforce. The full research report will be published shortly.

However, this does not mean that things cannot improve significantly. We are continuing to work with the industry to make sure that storm overflows are properly controlled and to reduce the harm caused by their discharges. This Government has been clear that the current failure of water companies to reduce adequately sewage discharges is unacceptable.

Between 2020 and 2025 water companies will invest £7.1 billion to protect and improve the environment. This includes the £5.2 billion invested through the Water Industry National Environment Programme. Of this, £3.1 billion will be invested in in storm overflow improvements.

However, we have made it crystal clear to water companies that they must take further action to significantly reduce sewage discharges from storm overflows as a priority. Our draft Strategic Policy Statement to Ofwat sets out for the first time that we expect water companies to take the steps required to "significantly reduce…. storm overflows." We have also announced that we will put that instruction on a statutory footing with a new duty on water companies to progressively reduce the impact of sewage discharges.

Our Environment Bill also includes the following new duties directly on water companies to:

• publish statutory Drainage and Sewerage Management Plans, for the first time, setting out how they will reduce overflows, as well as detailing other improvements, and provides the power for government to direct companies if these plans are inadequate;
• monitor water quality up and downstream of areas potentially affected by discharges;
• publish data on storm overflow operation on an annual basis;
• publish near real time information - within one hour- on the operation of storm overflows.

We will not hesitate to use our powers to hold companies to account. Earlier this year Southern Water was handed a record-breaking £90 million fine, and Thames Water was fined £4 million and £2.3 million for separate incidents.

New amendments have been tabled that place duties on the Government to publish a plan by September 2022 to reduce sewage discharges from storm overflows and reduce their impact. There is also a duty to report to Parliament on progress on implementing the plan. We will also produce a report outlining further evidence regarding elimination of Storm Overflows by September 2022. We expect this to drive action to tackle this issue in a shorter timeframe.

Truly reducing harm from storm overflows will require a collaborative approach between many actors. To this end, in August 2020 I established the Storm Overflows Taskforce to bring together key stakeholders from the water industry, regulators, and environmental NGOs, with a long-term goal to eliminate harm from storm overflows. The Taskforce has already taken steps to improve monitoring and transparency and has commissioned research to gather evidence on the costs, benefits and feasibility of different options.

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

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, with reference to the Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs' oral contribution on 20 October 2021, Official Report, c. 843, whether he will publish the assessment behind the cost range of ending raw sewage discharges into rivers as cited by the Minister during that debate.

Answered by Rebecca Pow - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)

The age of our Victorian sewerage system means a complete elimination of discharges from storm overflows would be extremely challenging and initial assessments suggest it could cost over £150 billion according to the Storm Overflows Evidence Project, commissioned by the Storm Overflows Taskforce. The full research report will be published shortly.

Great to hear our Water Quality in Rivers inquiry referenced in the Chamber, thank you @duncancbaker. ?For more info on the inquiry see https://t.co/zsThxGxiSy #waterpollution #sewage #rivers #environment https://t.co/ivZ1vhV316