12 September 2023 , 09:05
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The Government may have broken the law by not keeping water companies in check, a watchdog has found.
The Office for Environmental Protection (OEP) said guidelines "possibly allow untreated sewage discharges to occur more regularly than intended by the law", while water firms go unpunished. Ministers have been accused of letting perpetrators get away with "environmental vandalism on an industrial scale".
It said it has identified "possible failures to comply with environmental law" by the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra), the Environment Agency and Ofwat. The bodies have been given two months to respond, with OEP saying it will then consider next steps.
The suspected failures concern regulation of combined sewer overflows (CSOs). Helen Venn, the OEP’s Chief Regulatory Officer, said: “As a result of our investigations so far, we think there may have been misinterpretations of some key points of law.
"The core of the issue is that where we interpret the law to mean that untreated sewage discharges should generally be allowed only in exceptional circumstances, such as during unusually heavy rainfall, it appears that the public authorities may have interpreted the law differently, permitting such discharges to occur more often."
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In a statement the watchdog said: "Currently, as a result of information gathered during the investigation, the OEP believes that there may have been failures to comply with environmental laws by all three of the public authorities. The OEP has issued Information Notices to each of them setting out the details of those possible failures."
It said the bodies will be required to set out ways to tackle the issue. Labour's Shadow Environment Secretary, Steve Reed, fumed: “Nothing represents 13 years of Conservative failure more graphically than the sight of stinking, toxic sewage pouring into our rivers, lakes, and seas.
“Rishi Sunak wouldn’t want raw sewage in his private swimming pool, yet he’s happy to let human excrement pollute our waterways. This scandal is the Conservatives’ fault. They cut back enforcement and monitoring of the water companies releasing this filth and are now failing to prosecute them when they are blatantly breaking the law."
He said Labour plans to bring in automatic fines for sewage discharges, said strict mandatory monitoring of outlets would be brought in.
Lib Dem leader Sir Ed Davey said: “This damning report shows the Conservatives have repeatedly let water companies off the hook for dumping their filthy sewage into our rivers, lakes and beaches. Ministers and regulators are sitting on their hands while water companies get away with environmental vandalism on an industrial scale.
“It’s clear the regulators are simply not fit for purpose. We need to reform water companies to put protecting the environment at the heart of their operation, and bring in a proper regulator with teeth.”
A Defra spokesperson said: "The volume of sewage discharged is completely unacceptable. That is why we are the first government in history to take such comprehensive action to tackle it, driving forward more investment, stronger regulation and tougher enforcement - and it's why we are introducing a legally binding target to reduce storm overflows.
"While we do not agree with the OEP's initial interpretations, which cover points of law spanning over two decades, we will continue to work constructively with the OEP on this issue."
An Ofwat spokesman said: "Our position at Ofwat remains clear - water companies' performance on the environment is simply not good enough. We have pushed companies to take urgent action to cut sewage discharges, have imposed fines of £250 million in the last few years alone and we are currently running our biggest ever investigation into six companies on how they manage sewage treatment works and sewage discharges.
"We will keep pushing for the change and the improvements that the public rightly expects and where we can learn lessons or do things better, we will do so."
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