The Government announced yesterday evening that the Environment Bill will be further strengthened with an amendment that will see a duty enshrined in law to ensure water companies secure a progressive reduction in the adverse impacts of discharges from storm overflows.

River Meon - chalk stream in Hampshire 

The announcement follows widespread criticism in the press and across social media after the Government instructed Conservative MPs last week to vote down similar proposals in an amendment tabled in the House of Lords.

Water companies support Duke of Wellington's amendment to the Environment Bill

Yesterday Water UK, the body which represents all the UK water companies, further increased the pressure on the Government to demonstrate a shift in position, commenting:

“We support the Duke of Wellington's amendment to the Environment Bill, and call on Government to back it.”

Announcing the change, the Department for Environment, Food & Rural Affairs said:

“The amendment bolsters the raft of measures already being taken by Government through the Environment Bill, which as currently drafted will put in place more protections against water pollution than ever before.”

Environment Secretary George Eustice commented:

“Earlier this summer, the Government published a new strategic policy priorities for Ofwat and the water sector asking them to significantly reduce the discharge of sewage from storm overflows in the next pricing review.

“Following a debate in the House of Commons last week during the final stages of the Environment Bill, today we are announcing that we will put that commitment on a statutory footing with a new clause.”

The statement issued by Defra referred to “significant penalties (which ) have already been handed out to water companies discharging unacceptable amounts of sewage into our rivers. Earlier this year, Southern Water received a record-breaking £90m fine, while Thames Water was handed £4m and £2.3million fines for separate incidents.”

The Government will hold underperforming companies to account, and is already taking direct action to deliver progressive reductions in the harm caused by storm overflows through measures in the Environment Bill, Defra said. The measures include:

• a new duty directly on water companies to produce comprehensive statutory Drainage and Sewerage Management Plans, setting out how they will manage and develop their drainage and sewerage system over a minimum 25-year planning horizon, including how storm overflows will be addressed through these plans.
• a power of direction for the government to direct water companies in relation to the actions in these Drainage and Sewerage Management Plans if they are not good enough.
• a new duty on Government to produce a statutory plan to reduce discharges from storm overflows and their adverse impact, and report to Parliament on progress.
• a requirement for government to produce a report setting out the actions that would be needed to eliminate discharges from storm overflows in England, and the costs and benefits of those actions. Both publications are required before 1 September 2022.
• a new duty directly on water companies and the Environment Agency to publish data on storm overflow operation on an annual basis.
• a new duty directly on water companies to publish near real time information - within one hour- on the operation of storm overflows.
• a new duty directly on water companies to monitor the water quality upstream and downstream of storm overflows and sewage disposal works.

However, Defra goes on to caution that the age of our Victorian sewerage system means a complete elimination of discharges from storm overflows would be “extremely challenging” and “initial assessments suggest would cost over £150 billion” according to the Storm Overflows Evidence Project, commissioned by the Storm Overflows Taskforce. The full research report will be published shortly.

Rivers Trust “cautiously welcomes” government announcement that they will introduce a new duty

A statement issued by the Rivers Trust in response to the government additions to the Environment Bill said the Rivers Trust “cautiously welcomes” the announcement.

Christine Colvin, Director for Partnerships & Communications at the Trust commented:

“Whilst we await the specific wording of this new clause to the Environment Bill, we are pleased to see the government responding to the justified outcry from the public, who demand that our rivers are no longer treated as sewers. This conviction is only getting stronger, as we saw this evening in the Lords vote, with an even bigger majority voting to stop sewage pollution in our rivers and coasts.”

“The government’s promised amendment appears to reflect the premise of the Duke of Wellington’s which called for water companies to ensure untreated sewage is not discharged into rivers and coasts. Together with the other additional clauses in the Bill, it shows the government has taken seriously the call from NGOs, the public and a growing majority of the Lords.

“We hope that Lord Goldsmith will deliver on his promise, and make sure that the amendment in the Commons fully captures the ambition of the Duke’s amendment to see water companies ceasing the discharge of untreated sewage into rivers.”.