Water UK, the body which represents all the UK water companies, has launched an interactive map showing the operation of every single storm overflow in England.
From today anglers, kayakers and swimmers in England will be able to see, to the minute, when and where a storm overflow has discharged.
The National Storm Overflows Hub will show the operation of all 14,187 storm overflows in England. Alongside the map, the Hub includes an extensive question and answer page to help inform the public.
The Hub has been created by Water UK, the water industry trade body representing every water company in the UK, in partnership with Stream, a cross-industry group working to drive transparency, innovation and collaboration through open and shared data.
David Henderson, Chief Executive, Water UK said:
“England is the first nation in the world to have an interactive map showing the location and live operation of every single storm overflow. For the first time, whether you’re a paddler or a swimmer, an angler or a kayaker, you’ll be able to see when, where and for how long a storm overflow has been active.
“The water industry in England was already the most transparent water sector in the world, with 100% of its overflows monitored – the only nation in the world to do so.
“Now we want to go even further and invest a record £108 billion over the next five years to ensure the security of our water supply in the future and end sewage entering our rivers and seas. Ofwat needs to approve these plans in full so we can get on with it.”
The Hub has been developed in line with expert advice from an independent steering group which includes the Rivers Trust, Surfers Against Sewage, the Consumer Council for Water, the Environment Agency, Ofwat and the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (DEFRA). The groups have been actively involved in the creation and development of the Hub, and it has benefitted from their expertise.
Visitors to the Hub will also be able to find out details of the ‘National Storm Overflows Plan for England.’ This plan includes the investment required to end sewage overflowing into England’s waterways. The first phase of the plan includes a proposal to nearly triple investment over the next five years to £10 billion which, if approved by Ofwat, will cut spills by at least 40% by 2030.
The launch of the map follows individual water companies publishing their own maps covering their region earlier this year. England is already the first nation in the world to have 100% monitoring of its network of storm overflows.
An Application Programming Interface (API) has been created to allow third parties, such as charities and campaign groups, to access the data and broaden its reach by making it available via their websites.
The launch of the map has been welcomed by a wide range of organisations and water sector stakeholders.
Rob Wilson, Chair of the Consumer Council for Water (CCW), said:
“We know people want clear communication and more openness from water companies on their environmental performance and the launch of this easy-to-use interactive map is an important step towards rebuilding trust.”
“It has been great to witness water companies, environmental groups, campaigners and others working collaboratively to bring this project to life and it shows what can be achieved when the sector unites behind a common goal that will benefit people and the environment.”
Ben Seal, Head of Access and Environment at Paddle UK, on behalf of the Clean Water Sports Alliance said:
“Having campaigned for real-time monitoring of sewage overflows, Paddle UK and the 10 other National Governing Bodies of watersports that make up the Clean Water Sports Alliance, welcome the launch of a new National Storm Overflow Hub. It marks a significant step forward in increasing transparency and giving a fuller picture of the scale of pollution being caused by the water sector.
“Water users from across England and Wales, who are reliant on access to clean water, will be able to use this information to see when and where pollution is being discharged into their local river or sea.
“There is however, much more that needs to be done to give recreational water users the information they need to make confident, informed choices.
“This is a welcome step in the right direction by Water UK and we look forward to helping shape future work”.
Rivers Trust call for Wales, Scotland, NI and Ireland to follow suit
Welcoming the scheme, the Rivers Trust are suggesting that Wales, Scotland, NI and Ireland should follow suit to provide consistent data services.
Michelle Walker, Technical Director at the Rivers Trust commented:
“The National Storm Overflows Hub is a positive step forward in transparency and ease of access to live data about untreated sewage discharges into our rivers and waterways. Having all of this data available in a consistent format not only keeps river users better informed about where and when sewage is discharging at any given moment, it also means that those of us who develop and publish maps and apps can seamlessly use and analyse that data. We will be incorporating this live data into our Sewage Map in the coming weeks, so people can view the most recent data alongside previous annual summaries.
“Whilst we are pleased to see the Hub go live, there is still more to do. We need water companies to start monitoring and sharing information about the volume and quality of untreated sewage being discharged to understand the impacts on river ecosystems and the risks to human health.
“We urgently need a smart monitoring system for our river catchments, which combines data from the best available technology (like real time water quality sensors, satellite remote sensing, AI and machine learning models), with community citizen science data, to better understand the impacts of the many other sources of pollution including treated sewage, agricultural pollution, urban and road runoff.
“We would love to see Wales, Scotland, NI and Ireland follow suit to provide consistent, high-quality data services across the whole of the UK and Ireland.”
Click here for more information about the National Storm Overflows Hub
Click here to access the Storm Overflows Map online
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