Political storm over bid to curb sewage pollution
CONSERVATIVE MPs have faced a social media backlash after a proposal from the House of Lords to end raw sewage being dumped in rivers and seas was rejected.
The vote caused an outcry and has put a spotlight on the ongoing pollution of waterways in England, where no river is in good overall health.
Water companies are allowed to discharge untreated sewage into rivers and the sea in extreme weather to avoid the system backing up. That happened 400,000 times last year in England, including on 42,000 occasions by South West Water.
Environmental campaigners, including Cornwall-based Surfers Against Sewage, want the discharges which harm water quality to end.
The focus is back on the issue following an attempt by the House of Lords to change the Environment
Bill, which is going through the Houses of Parliament before becoming law. Last week, MPs voted 268 to 204, a majority of 64, against the tabled proposal. The amendment would have put a legal duty on companies to end the discharge of untreated sewage from storm overflows.
Government supporters say the investment needed would increase bills and could bankrupt water companies, and could lead to sewage overflowing into streets and homes. It has been reported the cost to make waterways safer could be between £150 billion and £160 billion.
The Government says it is already taking direct action through the Environment Bill, and more widely, which is delivering the aims of the House of Lords amendment.
Surfers Against Sewage has been campaigning to end pollution in the rivers and seas and publishes a map with updates showing the latest discharges. Over the weekend in Cornwall,
it showed storm overflows on to beaches at Long Rock, near Gulval; Trevaunce Cove, near St Agnes; and Seaton and Millendreath, near Looe.
Hugo Tagholm, of the campaign group, said: “We were really disappointed that MPs failed to back the amendment to put a legal duty on water companies to stop raw sewage pouring into our rivers and our oceans.”
He told BBC Breakfast: “The amendment that is being called for is reasonable. We believe the water companies need to cut into the dividends they make every year to restore our rivers and our coastlines.”
Support for the Lords amendment was led by Luke Pollard, Labour MP for Plymouth Sutton and Devonport and shadow environment secretary. He told MPs the state of England’s rivers “shames our nation”. He said the opposition would keep up pressure on the Government for a rethink, as the issue went back before the Commons.
Mr Pollard told Parliament that not a single English river was in a healthy condition and there had been no improvement since 2016.
He said raw sewage discharges should only be acceptable in extreme circumstances, but “this is a daily regular continual occurrence and it is unacceptable”.
A statement from Defra said: “We have every confidence that the provisions in this Bill will absolutely deliver progressive reductions in the harm caused by storm overflows and any suggestion to the contrary is both disingenuous and untrue.”
A spokesperson added: “We have added a range of new legally-binding obligations directly on water companies in the Environment Bill, as well as over £3 billion of water company investment to tackle pollution in rivers, and we expect to see results.”
Newton Abbot MP Anne Marie Morris said she was “deeply uneasy” about voting for an amendment which would lead to higher water bills when they were already the highest in the country.
She added: “It’s about getting the legislation right. This is one of the reasons why I continue to support Philip Dunne MP’s Sewage (Inland Waters) Bill, a Private Members’ Bill, that places a duty on water companies to ensure that untreated sewage is not discharged into rivers and other inland waters.”
A South West Water spokesperson said: “We are absolutely committed to improving river quality and protecting bathing waters in our region.”