Wednesday, August 31, 2022
The huge task facing us in cleaning up our coastline and rivers
The consequences of the Tory government's failure to legislate for water companies to clean up their act when it comes to sewage discharges has been put into sharp relief by an investigation from Channel 4's Dispatches programme.
The Mirror reports that there may be more than 870 illegal discharge pipes without permits polluting waters with sewage.
The paper says that investigators found those with no permits and potentially in use included 184 with Welsh Water and 420 at Severn Trent.
The companies told the Channel 4 Dispatches probe they were working with the Environment Agency to ensure the correct permits were in place for all storm overflows.
Nick Voulvoulis, professor of Environmental Technology at Imperial College London, said: “We have overflows used in some cases when it doesn’t rain or when it is not extreme rain.”
Yesterday demonstrators formed a human chain at Saltburn beach, North Yorks, in protest at sewage pollution.
It came as a whistleblower revealed cuts had left the Environment Agency struggling to regulate firms. Helen Nightingale, who recently retired from the EA, said: “We aren’t as aggressive, we don’t enforce to the same extent.”
The annual EA budget for enforcement has fallen from £11.6million to £7m since 2010.
An EA spokesman said it had to prioritise due to this.
Time for the government to get a grip.
The Mirror reports that there may be more than 870 illegal discharge pipes without permits polluting waters with sewage.
The paper says that investigators found those with no permits and potentially in use included 184 with Welsh Water and 420 at Severn Trent.
The companies told the Channel 4 Dispatches probe they were working with the Environment Agency to ensure the correct permits were in place for all storm overflows.
Nick Voulvoulis, professor of Environmental Technology at Imperial College London, said: “We have overflows used in some cases when it doesn’t rain or when it is not extreme rain.”
Yesterday demonstrators formed a human chain at Saltburn beach, North Yorks, in protest at sewage pollution.
It came as a whistleblower revealed cuts had left the Environment Agency struggling to regulate firms. Helen Nightingale, who recently retired from the EA, said: “We aren’t as aggressive, we don’t enforce to the same extent.”
The annual EA budget for enforcement has fallen from £11.6million to £7m since 2010.
An EA spokesman said it had to prioritise due to this.
Time for the government to get a grip.
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