Tough fines in pipeline for sewage dumpers

WATER companies will face unlimited fines for polluting in a crackdown by ministers, after “unacceptable” data showed they are still releasing sewage for more than a million hours a year.

The Government will unveil a plan to deal with polluting water companies, including ring-fencing gains from fines and penalties to fund water restoration projects.

The Environment Agency will be given powers to impose unlimited civil penalties, currently capped at £250,000, under plans to be consulted on in coming days.

The latest official data, released yesterday, showed sewage was released into England’s waterways more than 300,000 times last year.

The Government said the number of sewage spills was still unacceptable, despite a drop of 19 per cent compared with 2021.

It said the improvements could be attributed largely to last year’s dry weather rather than water company improvements.

“The volume of sewage being discharged into our waters is unacceptable and we are taking action to make sure polluters are held to account,” said Rebecca Pow, the water minister.

Water companies spilt sewage from their overflow systems a total of 301,091 times in 2022 in England – an average of 824 incidents per day.

Water companies are permitted to spill from their overflow systems only in exceptional circumstances, such as in heavy rain, to stop sewage backing up into people’s homes.

Wealden in East Sussex, which is served by Southern Water, had the biggest increase in sewage spill hours of

any local authority district, with a rise of 31 per cent.

One outflow system in the village of Maresfield discharged sewage for more than 10 hours a week in 2022, a rise of 1,600 per cent on the previous year.

Southern Water pointed to higher than average rainfall in the region last year. Toby Willison, Southern director of environment and quality, said: “We are already exceeding the government’s expectations for spills per overflow.

“However, we know this isn’t good enough and are working extremely hard to drive down storm overflows.”

United Utilities was the worst performing water firm in the data, spilling more than 69,000 times last year for 425,491 hours, the equivalent of 1,300 spills a week. It said it had met its 2025 targets but added: “We know there is much more to be done.”

The Government has promised to increase the level of on-the-spot fines the Environment Agency can levy against polluting firms to avoid lengthy court cases. Thérèse Coffey, the Environment Secretary, had pushed back on a suggestion by her predecessor to raise the level of fines from £250,000 to £250million over fears over the impact on water firms’ financial resilience.

She is now expected to act to give the agency powers to impose unlimited fines, after calls from campaigners.

At the time, campaigners including Ash Smith from Windrush Against Sewage Pollution, said it didn’t make sense to put a cap on possible fines.

The Daily Telegraph understands that unlimited fines will now be on the table when the Government brings out a consultation on reforming the system.

Water firms are also expected to be given powers in the coming days to increase investment in infrastructure that could stop systems getting blocked.

The Lib Dems said yesterday that Ms Coffey should resign over what it said was “the Government’s failure to protect” our treasured rivers and lakes”, adding: “The Environment Secretary has let water companies get away with these environmental crimes for far too long.”

A spokesman for Water UK, which represents the industry, said the data was “an important milestone and the fourth consecutive year we have seen a fall in the number of spills from each storm overflow”.