Asked by: Lisa Smart (Liberal Democrat - Hazel Grove)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what plans her Department has to analyse the forthcoming annual sewage discharge data to identify differences in company performance before and after the Water (Special Measures) Act 2025 came into force.
Answered by Emma Hardy - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
Pollution incidents from the activities of the water industry are unacceptable and can have a devastating impact on our environment. The water industry must do more to reduce pollution and protect our rivers, lakes and seas.
As part of the Water (Special Measures) Act 2025, a new duty has been created on water and sewerage undertakers in England and Wales, to produce annual Pollution Incident Reduction Plans (PIRPs).
These statutory plans require water and sewerage undertakers to report on the number and severity of pollution incidents attributable to their networks over the last calendar year and propose actions to reduce that number in the next year.
The first statutory PIRP will be published by 1 April 2026.
Asked by: Kirith Entwistle (Labour - Bolton North East)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, whether she has made an assessment of the potential impact of failures in sewage treatment, storm overflow management, or water quality monitoring on the level cases of Shigella-causing infections among children at beaches in the North West.
Answered by Emma Hardy - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
The department is taking action to rebuild the water network to clean up our rivers, lakes and seas. For example, in one of the largest infrastructure projects in this country’s history, £104 billion is being invested to upgrade crumbling pipes and sewage treatment works across the country. Water companies are investing over £11 billion in PR24, a record amount, to improve nearly 3,000 storm overflows across England and Wales over the next five years. For England, this equates to over £10 billion to improve over 2,500 storm overflows.
Our landmark Water (Special Measures) Act will also introduce independent monitoring of every sewerage outlet, with water companies required to publish real-time data for all emergency overflows.
The UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA) undertakes routine monitoring of notifiable diseases and causative agents which includes Shigella species. There is no evidence of Shigella linked to exposure to recreational waters at beaches in the North West.
Asked by: Blake Stephenson (Conservative - Mid Bedfordshire)
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 press release entitled Reed: Government to cut sewage pollution in half by 2030, published on 19 July 2025, what proportion of the £104bn funding has been allocated to Bedfordshire.
Answered by Emma Hardy - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
The Government has secured £104 billion of investment which includes over £10 billion to reduce sewage discharges from over 2,500 storm overflows in England and £4.8 billion to reduce phosphorus pollution. This will deliver on cleaning up our rivers, lakes, and seas.
Further information on Water Industry National Environment Programme (WINEP) actions for water companies to deliver within the 2025-2030 period is available for the public here: Price Review 2024 Water Industry National Environment Programme (WINEP) App. This can be filtered by Local Authority.
Asked by: James MacCleary (Liberal Democrat - Lewes)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what progress she has made in improving water quality in Lewes constituency.
Answered by Emma Hardy - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
We have begun rebuilding the water network to clean up our rivers, lakes and seas. £104 billion is being invested to upgrade crumbling pipes and sewage treatment works across the country, including in East Sussex. This includes over £10 billion to improve over 2,500 storm overflows across England.
The Environment Agency (EA) has increased regulatory inspections across East Sussex to tackle sewage spills, focusing on sites which pose the biggest risk to the environment and ensuring they meet the required environmental standards. The EA have increased regulatory inspections of water company assets within the Lewes constituency from the previous year.
We are also taking action to tackle agricultural pollution. This includes doubling the funding for farm inspections, enabling the EA to work with more farmers, including in East Sussex, to bring them into compliance. These combined efforts are contributing to stronger environmental standards and a clearer picture of progress in water management across the Lewes area.
Asked by: James MacCleary (Liberal Democrat - Lewes)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what steps she is taking to help reduce the number of sewage discharges in East Sussex.
Answered by Emma Hardy - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
We have begun rebuilding the water network to clean up our rivers, lakes and seas. £104 billion is being invested to upgrade crumbling pipes and sewage treatment works across the country, including in East Sussex. This includes over £10 billion to improve over 2,500 storm overflows across England.
The Environment Agency (EA) has increased regulatory inspections across East Sussex to tackle sewage spills, focusing on sites which pose the biggest risk to the environment and ensuring they meet the required environmental standards. The EA have increased regulatory inspections of water company assets within the Lewes constituency from the previous year.
We are also taking action to tackle agricultural pollution. This includes doubling the funding for farm inspections, enabling the EA to work with more farmers, including in East Sussex, to bring them into compliance. These combined efforts are contributing to stronger environmental standards and a clearer picture of progress in water management across the Lewes area.
Asked by: Al Pinkerton (Liberal Democrat - Surrey Heath)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what recent assessment she has made of the potential implications for her policies of trends in phosphate levels in river water-courses in Surrey Heath constituency.
Answered by Emma Hardy - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
The Environment Act sets targets to reduce phosphate entering rivers from sewage treatment. In Surrey Heath, the phosphorous permit at Camberley STW will be reduced to 0.25 mg/l as part of a Water Industry National Environment Programme (WINEP) improvement scheme.
The Environment agency is actively working with water companies to review nitrate levels in the river Thames and influence the safeguard zone action plans.
Asked by: Al Pinkerton (Liberal Democrat - Surrey Heath)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what recent assessment she has made of the potential implications for her policies of trends in nitrate levels in river water-courses in Surrey Heath constituency.
Answered by Emma Hardy - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
The Environment Act sets targets to reduce phosphate entering rivers from sewage treatment. In Surrey Heath, the phosphorous permit at Camberley STW will be reduced to 0.25 mg/l as part of a Water Industry National Environment Programme (WINEP) improvement scheme.
The Environment agency is actively working with water companies to review nitrate levels in the river Thames and influence the safeguard zone action plans.
Asked by: Blake Stephenson (Conservative - Mid Bedfordshire)
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 press release entitled Reed: Government to cut sewage pollution in half by 2030, published on 19 July 2025, what proportion of the £104 billion funding will be spent in Bedfordshire.
Answered by Emma Hardy - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
The Government has secured £104 billion of investment which includes over £10 billion to reduce sewage discharges from over 2,500 storm overflows in England and £4.8 billion to reduce phosphorus pollution. This will deliver on cleaning up our rivers, lakes, and seas.
Further information on Water Industry National Environment Programme (WINEP) actions for water companies to deliver within the 2025-2030 period is available for the public here: Price Review 2024 Water Industry National Environment Programme (WINEP) App. This can be filtered by Local Authority.
Asked by: Charlotte Cane (Liberal Democrat - Ely and East Cambridgeshire)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, whether her Department plans to monitor levels of pharmaceutical pollution in waterways.
Answered by Emma Hardy - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
The Environment Agency (EA) routinely monitors for over 100 pharmaceuticals within rivers using semi-quantitative methods that are routinely updated as new risks are identified by the EA's Prioritisation and Early Warning System (PEWS). The EA works with the water industry on the Chemicals Investigation Programme (CIP), which considers pharmaceuticals in sewage effluent.
The Government has been working with water companies under their Chemical Investigations Programme (CIP), to improve the evidence base on the fate of contaminants following treatment processes. The current phase of the Chemicals Investigation Programme (CIP4) includes a specific project to monitor pharmaceuticals in wastewater.
As a founding member of the Pharmaceuticals in the Environment (PiE) group, the EA advises on policy initiatives that will reduce pharmaceutical contamination of surface waters.
Asked by: Jim McMahon (Labour (Co-op) - Oldham West, Chadderton and Royton)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what assessment she has made of the potential impact of sewage discharges in the North West on (a) social and (b) economic well-being.
Answered by Emma Hardy - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
Our landmark Water (Special Measures) Act will introduce independent monitoring of every sewerage outlet, with water companies required to publish real-time data for all emergency overflows. Discharges will have to be reported within an hour of the initial spill.
We have begun rebuilding the water network to clean up our rivers, lakes and seas. In one of the largest infrastructure projects in this country’s history, £104 billion is being invested to upgrade crumbling pipes and sewage treatment works across the country.