Sewage uproar: what’s all the fuss about?

Conservative MPs are on the defensive after being accused of allowing untreated sewage to be pumped into our rivers and seas. 

Why have they rejected an amendment to clamp down on sewage-dumping water companies, and why has the vote sparked such a fierce backlash? Here’s what you need to know. 

What happened?

On Wednesday, MPs voted down an amendment to the Environment Bill, which would have placed a legal duty on water companies in England and Wales “to make improvements to their sewerage systems.”

The amendment, introduced by the Duke of Wellington, a crossbench peer, would have legally compelled them to take “all reasonable steps” to avoid using the combined sewer overflows, which regularly release untreated waste into rivers and seas.

However, George Eustice, the Environment Secretary, recommended that MPs reject this amendment and only 22 Conservatives rebelled against this advice. 

How is untreated sewage being discharged into our waterways? 

Raw sewage is being released into our waterways via storm overflow pipes – a legacy of Britain’s Victorian drainage system which means rainwater and liquid waste are combined in the same tanks. This overflows into waterways as an escape valve, instead of backing up into homes and streets. 

Such a release is only supposed to happen following extreme rainfall to relieve pressure in the sewage system and prevent flooding. 

“If storm overflows work as designed, they will discharge less than 20 times per year,” says Michelle Walker, the Rivers Trust’s deputy technical director. 

In reality, untreated human effluent poured into rivers and seas more than 400,000 times last year, over a total of more than 3.1 million hours, according to data from the Environment Agency. 

Why is this such a big problem? 

Just 14 per cent of England’s rivers are in good ecological condition, according to the Rivers Trust, while 53 per cent are deemed in a poor environmental state. Sewage release is a key component contributing to these high levels of pollution. 

To make matters worse, in early September, the government relaxed regulations, allowing water companies to release sewage that hasn’t been fully treated into waters due to a shortage of chemicals caused by the lorry driver crisis. This relaxation will last until at least the end of the year, with a possible extension. 

Why did MPs vote down the amendment? 

According to Tory MPs, the costs incurred by immediately banning sewage spills would have been too great and the bill lacked a comprehensive plan for changing the Victorian system. 

Robert Courts, the Conservative MP for Witney & West Oxfordshire, called the bill “admirable” but has argued: “In eliminating storm overflows, we are talking about transforming a system which has operated since the Victorian Era, the preliminary cost of which is estimated to be anywhere between £150 billion and £650 billion.”

He continued: “To put those figures in perspective, £150 billion is more than the entire schools, policing and defence budgets put together, and £650 billion is well above what has been spent combatting the Coronavirus pandemic.”

The government did pass certain proposals in the Environment Bill to deal with sewage dumping but they mainly focused on increased transparency – for instance, a new duty on water companies to publish virtually real time information (within one hour) of the commencement of an overflow, its location and when it stops.

Is this enough? 

But many believe these measures won’t go far enough and tackling sewage pollution must be more of a priority.

Hugo Tagholm, of Surfers Against Sewage, insists: “Water companies making rampant profits at the expense of the health of our rivers, oceans and people has to stop. Whilst the government is proposing new laws to be agreed for 2022, the sewage pollution crisis is here today and needs swift, decisive and enforced action.”

English water and sewerage companies have handed shareholders more than £2bn a year on average since they were privatised in 1989, according to the Public Services International Research Unit at Greenwich University.

Many are calling for fines placed on water companies to be more severe. In a high profile case earlier this month, Southern Water was fined £90m for its deliberate dumping of sewage between 2010 and 2015 – some of which hit conservation sites, causing major environmental harm to shellfish waters.