Sewage spill crisis: How it’s impacting our regions

Local TV

Water companies are under pressure to upgrade infrastructure to handle population growth and climate change, with improvements expected to cost billions.

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00:00particularly with sewage pollution and combined sewage outflows, you can go walk along the

00:04river and you can go to a pipe and point at it and you can see where the sewage is coming

00:09into your river and then you can track it back and you can complain to your local water

00:14company or whoever it might be of what's going on.

00:16The scale of sewage spills in England and Wales has worsened, with data from the Environment

00:21Agency showing over 3.5 million hours of sewage discharges in 2023, more than double the figure

00:27from the previous year. While Water UK, which represents water companies, blamed heavy rain

00:32and improved data collection, environmental charities argue that companies have failed

00:37to address leaking infrastructure.

00:39Yes, we can point at the sewage overflows there, but agricultural impacts are there,

00:45urban impacts are there. Are we as a growing urban population thinking about what we're

00:50doing at home?

00:51The practice of prematurely discharging sewage, known as dry spilling, is illegal and can

00:56happen even when there's no rainfall to justify the overflow. As scrutiny of the water

01:01industry grows, Water UK announced plans for an ambitious modernisation project, the largest

01:06since the Victorian era, to improve sewer systems and reduce sewage discharges. However,

01:12the necessary upgrades come with a hefty price tag, with customer bills expected to rise

01:16by around £156 annually over the next five years to cover the costs.

01:20They see their water bills going up and they don't see any increase in improvement in the

01:24environment and people rightly are annoyed.

01:28Regulators, including Ofwat and the Environment Agency, are continuing their investigations

01:33into all water companies across England and Wales, with penalties already proposed for

01:37several major providers for their failure to address sewage discharges. Meanwhile, concerns

01:42over the health risks of polluted waters are escalating.

01:46Experts warn that untreated sewage can introduce harmful bacteria, posing serious health risks.

01:51The situation has led to calls for more frequent testing in the UK's rivers, lakes and seas,

01:56as well as real-time monitoring to keep the public informed about water quality.

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