£10bn promise on sewage not enough, say campaigners

A PLEDGE by water companies to triple investment in Britain’s sewage system to reduce pollution does not go far enough, say campaigners.

They are also unhappy that the cost of the £10 billion investment is being passed on to customers when the work should have been carried out years ago.

Companies are allowed to spill sewage into open water following heavy rainfall to prevent the system becoming overloaded and backing up into homes.

But campaigners have said these spills are happening too often. Last year, Thames Water dumped raw sewage into the Thames and its tributaries in West Oxfordshire 507 times, lasting for 6,362 hours.

Jo Robb, a member of South Oxfordshire District Council and its River Thames “champion”, said: “While we welcome the announcement of additional investment, the suggestion that this will be financed by bill-payers is outrageous.

“Customers are already paying water companies to dispose of our foul water legally. It turns out they have been siphoning off profits for shareholders while dumping sewage into our rivers and on to our beaches.

“The idea that bill-payers will now have to stump up for the privately owned water companies to do what they should have been doing for years — investing in their own infrastructure and complying with the law — is appalling.

“What have we been paying them to do until now? I’m afraid that this looks like greenwashing by an industry that is under heavy public pressure. Thames Water has been working hard to improve transparency but the scandal of sewage dumping continues and there are wider systemic issues that this announcement by Water UK does nothing to address.”

Laura Reineke, a member of the open water swimming group the Henley Mermaids, said: “Firstly, this is not enough and will only cut sewage dumps by half. None of the investment money should be provided by the bill-payer but all by the shareholders and foreign investors.”

Nationally, raw sewage was dumped into rivers and seas for 1.75 million hours, or 825 times a day on average, last year.

Untreated sewage contains bacteria such as E.coli and viruses including hepatitis that can be harmful to animals and humans.

Swimming in water where untreated sewage is discharged can lead to serious illnesses such as stomach bugs, which may cause diarrhoea and vomiting, as well as respiratory, skin, ear and eye infections.

Wildlife including fish and insects can also experience kidney issues and die from sewage pollution.

Water UK, the body which represents England’s nine water and sewage companies, apologised on behalf of the industry for “not acting quickly enough”.

Chairwoman Ruth Kelly said: “We’re sorry about the upset and the anger from the fact that there have been overspills of untreated sewage on to beaches and into rivers over the past few years. We’re sorry that we didn’t act sooner.”

Thames Water has said its shareholders had not taken a dividend for five years so improving service for customers and protecting the environment was prioritised.

It has already announced a £1.6billion plan for sewage treatment upgrades over the next two years.