Rishi Sunak's 'Plan for Water' to ban plastic wet wipes in Britain

The UK government has announced its latest plan to better protect England's water supplies amid long-running accusations that privatised water firms have been pumping raw sewage into rivers and onto seashores, often polluting the potable sources of water.

What is Rishi Sunak's 'Plan for Water'?

The plan is aimed at cleaning Britain's sources of potable water and ensuring a "plentiful supply for the future". It follows months of criticism over the release of untreated wastewater into Britain's waterways. Last year, it led to the closure of some beaches at the height of one of the hottest seasons witnessed by people in the UK. Prime Minister Rishi Sunak's government is faced with multiple newspaper campaigns and rising public anger over the issue.

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Under the plan, the government will seek more investment from water companies and firm commitments to protect natural waters alongside stronger regulation. The government will alsoban wet wipes containing plastic which often block sewers when flushed down the toilet.

UK's 'Plan for Water': Political tussle follows

While announcing the new plan in a speech in London, the UK Environment Secretary Therese Coffey vowed to "coordinate community by community on how to tackle pollution from every source".

"There will be nowhere to hide for those who continue to pollute our rivers, with support for those who want to do the right thing," she said.

In many parts of Britain, the sewage system installed belongs to the centuries-old Victorian era.Coffey cautioned that there would be no quick fix to re-plumb the entire sewage system.

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"Achieving the gold standard for ecological status would mean taking us back to the natural state of our rivers from the year 1840," she said.

"That is neither practical nor desirable in many circumstances."

The principal oppositionLabour party has accusedthe government of lacking new measures to tackle years of water pollution.

"This announcement is nothing more than a shuffling of the deck chairs and a reheating of old, failed measures that simply give the green light for sewage dumping to continue for decades to come," said Jim McMahon, Labour environment spokesman.

"This is the third sham of a Tory water plan since the summer. There's nothing in it that tells us how, if or when they will end the Tory sewage scandal."

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