‘More than 400,000 sewage spills’ from storm overflows last year

SEWAGE IS spilling into England’s rivers and seas hundreds of thousands of times a year, figures released by the Environment Agency show.

Some 403,171 spills of diluted sewage from storm overflow outlets, which occur during heavy rain to prevent the sewers becoming overloaded and backing up into homes, were recorded by water companies in England in 2020.

The data, published proactively for the first time as part of a pledge to increase transparency around the issue, also reveals there were more than 3.1m hours of spillages last year.

While the storm overflows protect homes and businesses from sewer flooding during heavy rain, the untreated sewage they let into rivers and the sea can pollute watercourses and harm wildlife and people swimming in dirty water.

And experts warn that, with climate change driving more extreme rain storms, along with a growing population, they will discharge more often.

A growing number of the storm overflows are being monitored, with data in 2020 coming from 12,092 of the 14,630 known outlets from the nine English water companies and Welsh Water sites that flow into England.

On average, there were 33 spills per storm overflow, slightly lower than in 2019 when fewer outlets were monitored, with each one lasting an average of eight hours.

Environment Agency chief executive Sir James Bevan said: “Storm overflows are designed to discharge diluted sewage to rivers or the sea at times of heavy rainfall to prevent it backing up into homes and streets. But a growing population and climate change means they will discharge more often.

“The Environment Agency is working actively with the water companies to ensure overflows are properly controlled and the harm they do to the environment stopped.”

A spokesman for industry body Water UK said water companies have massively increased monitoring of overflows, with plans for 100 per cent coverage by 2023.

And firms are investing £1.1bn over five years to improve storm overflows as part of a £5bn programme of environmental improvements.