Shame water firms over sewage harm to dogs – MP
WATER companies should be compelled to report on the number of dogs poisoned by sewage in rivers, ministers have been told.
The Liberal Democrat MP for Bath, Wera Hobhouse, said the worst firms should be named and shamed amid concerns sewage is harming dogs and other animals swimming in waterways.
The Environment Act 2021 requires water companies to make a “progressive reduction” in dumping raw sewage in waterways after concerns were repeatedly raised in Parliament.
Speaking in the Commons, Ms Hobhouse said: “There are now fears that dogs swimming in rivers will be poisoned by sewage.
“Will the Secretary of State make it mandatory for water companies to report on the number of dogs and animals poisoned in their rivers, and name and shame the worst offenders?”
Environment minister Rebecca Pow replied: “We’ve been very clear about our work to crack down on pollution in rivers; we’ve just launched our targets which have got all the details in there and our storm sewage overflows discharge plan consultation.”
She encouraged Ms Hobhouse to raise her points via the consultation.
Elsewhere during the Defra questions session a Dorset MP urged the Government to make sure that supermarkets do not use the cost-of-living crisis to impose unfair food prices on farmers.
Conservative MP Chris Loder (West Dorset) said: “What is he doing to give the grocery adjudicator some more teeth to make sure that supermarkets do not inappropriately take advantage of the difficulties that we see with food prices?
“Because as he will well know, a lot of farmers face great pressure from supermarkets and some would argue that they (supermarkets) actually control the prices that farmers get, when that is not really how it should be.”
Environment Secretary George Eustice replied: “The supermarket adjudicator in recent years had made good progress to bring transparency to the way relationships work between supplies and the supermarkets, but in addition to that through the Agriculture Act, we have introduced new powers so that in future we will be able to regulate and improve the transparency and fairness of contracts between farmers and processors.”