Cornwall charity demands action as raw sewage dumped into waters 372,000 times
Surfers Against Sewage says we are "choking on sewage pollution"
Cornwall's Surfers Against Sewage has hit out at water companies after it was revealed raw sewage was dumped into English rivers and seas hundreds of thousands of times last year.
The Environment Agency has released monitoring data showing raw sewage was dumped into rivers and the coasts 372,533 times last year, with discharges totalling 2,667,452 hours.
Storm overflows put untreated sewage into the seas and rivers to stop drains overflowing, for example after heavy rain.
A growing population and an increase in extreme weather events driven by climate change has put increased pressure on England’s sewer system, much of which is aging Victorian infrastructure, pushing up the frequency of discharges.
The Environment Department (Defra) has published proposals aimed at significantly reducing discharges of raw sewage through storm drain overflows to protect health and halting the environmental damage they cause.
The Government has put out its plans, which it says is the largest programme to tackle storm sewage discharges in history, following pressure from campaigners, MPs and the public to do more on the issue.
Under the plans, water companies in England would have to meet targets to eliminate the environmental impacts of 3,000 storm overflow outlets, affecting the country’s most important protected sites, by 2035.
There is a target to reduce discharges into bathing waters by 70% by 2035, and another to eliminate 160,000 incidents of sewage overflows, or 40% of the total, by 2040 and to cut them by 80% or 320,000 discharges by 2050.
The consultation outlines how water companies are expected to achieve the targets, including mapping sewer networks and reducing surface water drain connects to the sewers, and how the Government will hold firms that do not meet expectations to account.
Environment Secretary George Eustice, who is also the MP for Camborne and Redruth, said: “We are the first government to set out our expectation that that water companies must take steps to significantly reduce storm overflows.
“Today, we are setting specific targets to ensure that those storm overflows are used only in exceptional circumstances – delivering on our Environment Act and building on wider work on water quality.”
Environment Agency chief executive Sir James Bevan said: “Water companies need to go further and faster in tackling the damage caused by storm overflows, so these targets aimed at drastically reducing the number of harmful discharges are a welcome development.”
But Hugo Tagholm, chief executive of St Agnes based campaign group Surfers Against Sewage, criticised water companies after the publication of data on discharges in 2021 and said the Government’s plans had “targets and timeframes decades away”.
He said: “Millions of hours of untreated sewage are destroying our waterways and yet water company bosses have the gall to say “but this wasn’t on our customers priority list”.
"Water company CEOs and their hedge fund shareholders are creaming off extortionate profits whilst we all are left choking on their sewage pollution that’s making us, and our environment, sick.
"We will not allow polluters to kick this into the long grass any longer. We demand that water companies reinvest their profits into restoring our blue spaces for nature and people.”
Amy Slack, Head of Campaigns & Policy at Surfers Against Sewage, added: "This wilful destruction of the UK’s rivers and seas will not simply be washed away with tomorrow’s news cycle. People across the UK demand an end to sewage pollution and will be coming together in mass protest on 23rd April – we urge everyone who cares for our rivers and seas to join us in telling the profiteering polluters of the water industry just what we think of them”
Cherilyn Mackrory, MP for Truro and Falmouth, said: “The amount of sewage discharged by water companies from storm overflows, including into the rivers and seas surrounding Falmouth, is unacceptable.
"The Government have already been acting, with record-breaking fines for water companies, and I have been working directly with Ministers to go even further.
"I am delighted that from 2025, the Government will launch the largest programme to tackle storm discharges in history. I will continue to work with Ministers to ensure these plans protect the environment and hold water companies to account. I encourage people to participate in the Government’s consultation to make sure their views contribute to solving this vital issue.”