People will not accept this sewage scandal

It’S ONE of the great scandals of recent times and if anyone doubted the severity of the issues of dumped sewage into rivers and seas then the recent data from the Environment Agency should put those doubts to bed.

In fact Liberal Democrat leader Sir Ed Davey has urged the Government to declare a national environmental emergency after data showed a 54 per cent increase in sewage spills in 2023.

The Government can hardly be surprised at its support collapsing given that many communities are having to live with the consequences of years of inaction.

If anything the Tories have sewage on their hands. Lets not forget former Prime Minister Liz Truss oversaw millions of pounds of cuts to funding earmarked for tackling water pollution.

The reality is people will not simply accept the natural environment being trashed by water companies. That is why there has been such widespread anger at the horrors that have been unfolding in the nation’s rivers and seas.

Yorkshire Water recorded the second highest number of sewage spills from monitored storm overflows at 77,761. A total of 516,386 hours of monitored sewage spills took place at Yorkshire Water, the third largest in England.

This is simply not good enough. It’s all well and good saying that improvements will take time and that water companies are making record investments, but what have they been doing for decades prior to sewage becoming a full blown crisis?

What it drives home is that light touch regulation of water companies has failed.