The Liberal Democrats are calling for “a 16% sewage tax on their £2.2 billion annual profits to improve our sewage system and protect our rivers and lakes.”
The call accompanies figures released by the political party compiled from Environment Agency data following the opening of the official sea-swimming season on Sunday.
According to figures collated by campaign group Top of the Poops, there were at least 470,000 "sewage spills" - where sewage is intentionally dumped into waterways - in England and Wales in 2021.
This included the release of raw sewage 25,000 times into designated bathing waters off the English coast by the water companies.
The group is also highlighting the fact that data quality appears very poor and each spill event record should be matched with a 'consent' - which “some companies don't seem to match up very well at all.”
Accordu#ing to the Lim Dems, "the Conservatives are letting them get away with it and want taxpayers to pay to fix the problem."
Tim Farron, the Liberal Democrats' rural affairs spokesperson, described the releases as an environmental scandal, saying:
“It is now or never to save families from swimming in sewage-infested waters this summer.
“Children should be free to enjoy Britain’s great coastlines and lakes, yet Conservative ministers are letting water companies get away with shameful sewage dumps. This is an environmental scandal.”
Click here to access the collated data online.
Sulzer has launched a new global Center of Excellence (CoE) for Water Treatment Solutions - the CoE consolidates Sulzer’s wastewater treatment expertise in a unified and global manner.
“SAS (Surplus Activated Sludge) is a bit weird and 
Owen Mace has taken over as Director of the British Plastics Federation (BPF) Plastic Pipes Group on the retirement of Caroline Ayres. He was previously Standards and Technical Manager for the group.
PureTec Separations, the Ledbury-based water treatment engineering firm, has appointed Dan Norman as its new Sales Manager – Water Process Systems, supporting the company’s continued growth in the UK and international markets.
Hear how Scottish Water has completed its £235 million Ayrshire Glasgow Resilience Project - customers across Greater Glasgow, Ayrshire and East Renfrewshire will now benefit from a more secure and resilient water supply.
Hear how United Utilities is accelerating its investment to reduce spills from storm overflows across the Northwest.
Find out more about the remarkable career opportunities on offer at WSP - scroll down to watch the inspirational video.