British govt may have broken law on sewage dumping in England, says watchdog

The British government and the water regulator might have violated the environmental law regarding the regulation of untreated sewage releases, said the country's environmental protection watchdog on Tuesday (September 12). The officials might have done so by failing to stem the raw sewage dumped into the rivers by water companies in England, said the Office for Environmental Protection (OEP).

Public authorities may have misinterpreted the law: OEP

The OEP believes the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra), regulator Ofwat and the government’s Environment Agency may have misinterpreted the law by allowing raw sewage to be discharged by water companies more frequently than legally allowed.

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“Where we interpret the law to mean that untreated sewage discharges should generally be allowed only in exceptional circumstances...it appears that the public authorities may have interpreted the law differently,” said the OEP Chief Regulatory Officer Helen Venn.

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The exceptional circumstances for discharging raw sewage from storm overflows on the network include ‘very heavy rainfall,’ to stop it from backing up into homes. However, campaigners have alleged that the water companies are discharging much more often than they should.

The OEP, a watchdog set up after Brexit to replace the enforcement powers of the European Commission, was called upon to investigate by the charity WildFish, which said that the regulators were failing in their duty to enforce the law.

“The guidance provided by government to regulators, and the permitting regime they put in place for the water companies, possibly allow untreated sewage discharges to occur more regularly than intended by the law without risk of sanction,” said the OEP.

Last year, water companies in England alone released raw sewage 301,091 times – an average of 825 times a day – into rivers and the sea, according to data from the Environment Agency.

Not the first time

The recent possible failure to comply with the law by the three agencies is related to urban wastewater treatment laws, which derive from European Union law.

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In 2012, prior to Brexit, the UK government was found to be in breach of the urban wastewater laws by the European court over raw sewage discharges.

The OEP, which has far fewer powers than the European Commission for enforcement action against public bodies, has given British officials two months to respond and set out proposed measures to address the issues.

British government agencies disagree with OEP report

A spokesperson from Defra said that while it disagrees with the OEP’s interpretations the government was taking “comprehensive action to tackle it, driving forward more investment, stronger regulation and tougher enforcement,” as per Reuters.

Meanwhile, the Environment Agency said that they would always take action against those not following the law and Ofwat said it would work with OEP. “Water companies’ performance on the environment is simply not good enough,” said the Ofwat spokesperson, as per Reuters.

(With inputs from agencies)

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