“We fully support WUK’s apology on behalf of the wider industry. We know we all need to act faster to address storm overflows. 

“To our customers, we’re sorry. We share your aspirations that our rivers should be beautiful places, rich in nature, that can be enjoyed, and we are determined to play our role in making that a reality.” 

Media release from Water UK:

Water and sewage companies in England apologise for sewage spills and
launch massive transformation programme

• £10 billion - more than triple current levels – ready to be invested in a new National
  Overflows Plan, enabling the biggest modernisation of sewers since the Victorian era,
  and the most ambitious programme on sewage spills in the world.
• A new Environmental hub, launching next year, will for the first time give everyone
  near real-time information on overflows, as well as the state of our rivers and coastal
  waters.
• Companies will also support up to 100 communities to create new protected waters
  for swimming and recreation.

Water and sewage companies in England have today apologised for not acting quickly enough on sewage spills. To put things right, industry plans to make the largest ever investment in storm overflows as part of a major programme to reduce spills into rivers and seas. In addition, a new national environmental hub with information on all 15,000 overflows in the country will increase transparency and allow the public to hold companies to account.

The industry’s plan includes the following three commitments:

1. Accelerating progress

We are today confirming companies’ readiness to invest an additional £10billion this decade, more than tripling (and adding to) current levels of investment of £3.1bn 2020-25. If approved by regulators, we expect that, by 2030, this initial wave of investment will cut sewage overflows by up to 140,000 each year compared to the level in 2020. It will kick-off the first wave of a massive transformation programme across 350,000 miles of sewer (a length that would stretch 14 times round the world).

This investment will allow water companies across the country to:

• Install the equivalent of thousands of new Olympic swimming pools of to hold surges
  in rainwater that would otherwise overload the system;
• Increase the capacity of sewage treatment works, allowing them to treat higher
  volumes of rainfall and sewage;
• Replace concrete with grass and ponds to reduce rainfall run-off entering sewers,
  protecting them against the overloading that causes spills;
• Treat overflow spills so they have much less impact on the river, including through
  reed beds, wetlands and other nature-friendly projects; and
• Improve the sewer network by enlarging and improving pipes, allowing them to
  safely carry more sewage during peak times, and fixing misconnected pipes from
  properties.

A detailed National Overflows Plan will be published later this summer, explaining each companies’ approach to improving their overflows. This will include when improvements can be expected, and (as projects are developed) how improvements will be delivered and the expected results. For the first time, communities across the country will be able to find out exactly when overflows in their area will be improved and be able to hold their water and sewerage company to account.

2. More transparency to improve accountability

Water and sewage companies will collaborate on creating, by this time next year, a new independently-overseen National Environment Data Hub to provide the public with up-to-date information on the operation of all 15,000 sewage overflows in England. For the first time in the world, any member of the public will be able to get national ‘near real time’ (within the hour) information on what is happening. This will strengthen accountability, help the public to track progress and empower swimmers and others with the information they need. In addition, as thousands of new river quality monitors come online (planned to be installed from 2025 onwards), this additional data will also be added to the Hub to let people see the real-world impact on rivers.

3. Supporting new bathing rivers

Water and sewage companies will help up to 100 communities interested in protecting rivers and other outdoor areas of water (like lakes and reservoirs) for the purpose of swimming and recreation. Each water and sewage company in England will also support the roll-out of new river swimming areas, by providing help to up to 100 communities in drawing up plans, applying for legal protection, covering the costs of pre-submission water testing and working with regulators to fix local sources of pollution. Industry will also develop guidance and toolkits and support citizen scientiststo help local groups navigate what can be a burdensome process.

Ruth Kelly, Chair of Water UK, said: “The message from the water and sewage industry today is clear: we are sorry. More should have been done to address the issue of spillages sooner and the public is right to be upset about the current quality of our rivers and beaches. We have listened and have an unprecedented plan to start to put it right. This problem cannot be fixed overnight, but we are determined to do everything we can to transform our rivers and seas in the way we all want to see.”