28 October 2021
Environment Bill- sewage discharges

I believe that the amount of sewage discharged by water companies into our rivers is unacceptable. So far in 2021 the Environment Agency has concluded five prosecutions against water companies with fines of £90 million, £4 million, £2.3 million, £150,000 and £540,000 bringing the total since 2015 to 47 prosecutions securing fines of over £132 million. The Government has also accepted an additional 7 enforcement undertaking offers so far in 2021, paying £1,268,272 to environmental and wildlife trusts organisations bringing the total since 2015 to £11.6 million from 66 enforcement undertakings.

Improving the health of our waterways is a priority for the Government. At Committee Stage in the House of Lords the Government tabled amendments to help reduce sewage discharges from storm overflows. The Government also tabled amendments to place new duties on water companies which will improve our understanding of the impact of sewage discharges. These duties will increase transparency, help regulators and the public to hold water companies to account, and will inform action to reduce the frequency of overflows.

The first duty will require water companies to publish near real-time Event Duration Monitoring data when storm overflows are operational. This will give bathers and other recreational water users access to up-to-date information on when overflows operate and will help regulators and the public to hold water companies to account. The second duty requires water companies to publish continuous monitoring information on the water quality impacts of their assets, applying to both storm overflows and treatment works. This will provide regulators and the public with information on the impacts of sewage discharges.

Ministers also included an amendment which will require the Government to publish a new report setting out the actions which would be required to eliminate storm overflows entirely. This will sit alongside the current requirement in the Bill for the Government’s storm overflows reduction plan.

Last year I was one of 12 signatories to the Sewage (Inland Waters) Bill which was tabled by my colleague Philip Dunne MP. While the Bill did not progress due to Parliamentary timetabling, Philip worked with the Department for Environment, Food & Rural Affairs to take forward the key objectives of the Bill to reduce sewage entering our waterways.

In March Ministers confirmed that they would place a duty on the Government to publish a plan by September 2022 to reduce sewage discharges from storm overflows; a duty to report regularly to Parliament on progress on implementing the plan; and a duty on water companies to publish data annually on storm overflow operation.

Fixing the problems with storm overflows will take detailed planning. We cannot simply block overflows or immediately build new pipework and facilities. While the Lords’ amendment that has garnered quite a lot of attention was well intentioned, I believe that the Government’s new amendments strike the right approach.

The Duke of Wellington’s amendment tabled in the Lords sought to place a new duty on sewerage undertakers to demonstrate progressive reductions in the harm caused by discharges of untreated sewage, which although admirable in principle did not include any plans about how this would be achieved. To eliminate storm overflows entirely would costs hundreds of billions of pounds. The Government’s view was that it would have been irresponsible to have included this wording in the Bill as it did not come with an impact assessment and could lead to significant increases in water charges for consumers. The process of removing storm overflows would involve the complete separation of the sewerage systems, leading to potentially significant disruption for homes, businesses and infrastructure across the country.

I believe that it is important that we pass legislation that is properly costed, detailed and actually deliverable and I hope this helps to explain why I did not support the Lord’s amendment on sewage last week.

Summary of the Government’s measures:

  • a new duty directly on water companies to produce comprehensive statutory Drainage and Sewerage Management Plans, setting out how they will manage and develop their drainage and sewerage system over a minimum 25-year planning horizon, including how storm overflows will be addressed through these plans.
  • a power of direction for the government to direct water companies in relation to the actions in these Drainage and Sewerage Management Plans. We will not hesitate to use this power of direction if plans are not good enough.
  • a new duty on government to produce a statutory plan to reduce discharges from storm overflows
  • a requirement for government to produce a report setting out the actions that would be needed to eliminate discharges from storm overflows in England, and the costs and benefits of those actions. Both publications are required before 1 September 2022.
  • a new duty directly on water companies and the Environment Agency to publish data on storm overflow operation on an annual basis.
  • a new duty directly on water companies to publish near real time information on the operation of storm overflows.
  • a new duty directly on water companies to monitor the water quality upstream and downstream of storm overflows and sewage disposal works.
  • In July the Government set out its expectation that Ofwat should incentivise water companies to invest to significantly reduce the use of storm overflows in the forthcoming pricing review period. Ofwat will be required to act in accordance with this expectation. The Government’s new amendment will place this policy position in an additional clause in the Environment Bill.