The Office for Environmental Protection (OEP) - the watchdog created post Brexit to hold the government to account for environmental breaches - has warned that the government, its water regulator Ofwat and the Environment Agency may be all taken to court over their failure to address the sewage dumping in England, which is in breach of the law.
The UK has some of the oldest sewage infrastructure which combines sewage overflows into water runoff from roads, sewage from homes and businesses and grey water, which is the kind of water released from washing machines and baths.
The law only permits water companies to release sewage into the waterways only during exceptional circumstances, such as extreme weather, and only a certain amount of times a year. However, in reality water companies routinely dump untreated sewage into rivers and seas, even when it is not raining, due to the fact that their sewage treatment systems are either faulty or not coping with the volume to efficiently process it, which might risk being backed up into people's homes, if not released.
In recent years the water companies have faced some of the largest fines ever recorded for environmental non-compliance for polluting the waterways with sewage, but those fines seem to have had little effect on reducing the pollution incidents across the country. Additionally, Ofwat and DEFRA have legal duties to ensure that water companies only spill sewage under extreme circumstances.
The chief regulatory officer at the OEP said: "The core issue identified in our investigation is the circumstances in which the regulatory system allows untreated sewage discharges to take place. We interpret the law to mean that they should generally be permitted only in exceptional circumstances, such as during unusually heavy rainfall. This is unless an assessment of the CSO [combined sewage overflow] concludes that the costs to address the issue would be disproportionate to the benefits gained.
"We will decide next steps when we have considered the responses to these decision notices. That could include court action."
Additionally, the OEP investigation found that the Environment Agency failed to comply with the law by:
Representatives for Ofwat and DEFRA have said that they are actively taking steps to improve on the issues that OEP identified. Furthermore, DEFRA spokesperson said:
"For too long, water companies have pumped record levels of sewage into our rivers, lakes and seas. In just 5 months, this Government has acted decisively to refresh outdated guidance to make extremely clear our expectations around storm overflows. We welcome the OEP’s acknowledgement that this government is rectifying the issues identified. We will carefully consider the OEP’s allegations of breaches before formally responding in due course.
"Furthermore, we’re placing water companies under special measures through the Water Bill, which includes new powers to ban the payment of bonuses for polluting water bosses and bring criminal charges against lawbreakers. We’re also carrying out a full review of the water sector to shape further legislation that will transform how our water system works."
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