Ending Britain’s water company ‘sewage dumping’ nightmare.

Water companies are polluting our coastal waters and inland water ways. For us and many people living in the United Kingdom, the practice is unacceptable. But how do we strike the right balance to address ending this problem?

For too long water companies have benefited from huge profits and have not ‘fixed the roof’ when it’s not raining. They have failed to invest in ensuring that infrastructure capacity meets the demand of modern-day Britain. The Victorian sewer system that lies under most of our towns and cities is badly in need of both infrastructure modernisation, expansion and innovation to be fit for purpose.

The 2021 Environment Bill took steps to address some of the problems associated with Storm Overflow Discharges. The bill exercises a legal duty onto water companies to provide a plan by no later than September 2022 as to how each company will achieve a vast reduction to ending the practice of Storm Overflow Discharges.

You’ll note we use the word ‘reduction’ and not an ‘absolute end’ to storm discharges. That is because water companies are alledged to be ‘pushing back’ on this duty, stating it is impossible to end the dumping of effluent into the sea, harbours and rivers in its entirety.

So where does that leave us? It’s clear to many that the problems that we are now facing is due to a lack of focus on this problem from successive governments of all colours. But given the increase in frequency of major storm events, heavy rain downpour and flooding, the problem has been exacerbated in recent times.

If water companies are not compliant with the governments September 2022 deadline, perhaps it is time for the government to flex its muscles. After all, water companies are publishing large profits while seemingly unwilling to fully commit to ending the practices that united the nation against them only last year. If fines of £92m don’t work, perhaps a more direct intervention will? That can only happen with a strong administration around the cabinet table and a strong ministerial team in DEFRA.

While many organisations have called for an immediate end to the current dumping practices, with the state of the sewer infrastructure being in such an outdated state, pragmatism must inform whatever tougher line that will need to be pursued and implemented. It’s clear there’s an unwillingness to plough ahead with a complete infrastructure upgrade and in some places it would be near impossible. Concerns around estimated costs reported to be in the hundreds of billions would likely be passed onto the consumer in some form, which understandably, even in 2021 was not acceptable to anyone. But something needs to change. Perhaps a plausible way forward would be to recognise that there’s room for clever innovation here? Creation of networks of additional underground storage tanks that stores overflow waste ready for treatment during surge weather events could be one part of the answer to ending the current problem? Additional capacity theoretically could be added and retrofitted into the existing infrastructure. We’ve seen water companies do that in Portsmouth and elsewhere.

A failure to address this problem with a tangible end date will undermine the many exceptional conservation projects in our coastal waters and attempts to create healthier coastlines and oceans. That would be a tragedy. Currently those projects are at risk, but they move forward at a fantastic rate. They have literally lit a beacon and fired up people’s imaginations and are ‘doing good’ by our coastal waters, harbours and marine habitats.

We’ve also seen an incredible start-up of fantastic futuristic tech initiatives such as the Cornish built Kernow 1 spacecraft that will map the UK’s coastline that aims to identify key locations for ocean restoration projects such as Sea Grass meadows and more.

And there needs to be a join up between governments housing and environment departments to ensure that the regulations and duties around planning and additional connections to the current system do not overload the system to the point of failure. Currently there is no requirement by local planning committees to consider any possible stresses a development might cause as a reason to refuse a development application. Water companies are asked to give a view and often it is buried in a report, if they bother to respond at all. The thinking and requirement must be joined up. 

Above: Langstone Harbour is just area of natural beauty between Portsea Island (Portsmouth) and Hayling Island where Southern Water regularly discharge sewage. Langstone Harbour used to have vibrant native Solent Oyster beds with a thriving marine ecology. The Sewage discharges continue to threaten the

conservation efforts from marine conservation efforts to reseed the native oyster species back into The Solent. Brent Geese also feed here on their annual migration from Siberia. Sadly, sewage across this harbour and this part of the The Solent is a regular sight after any heavy rain downpour.