Watchdog confirms government may have broken law on river pollution

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https://leftfootforward.org/2024/01/watchdog-confirms-government-may-have-broken-law-on-river-pollution/

The Office for Environmental Protection (OEP), the government’s own environmental watchdog, has confirmed that the government may have broken environmental law by the watering down of critical regulations on the pollution of rivers in England.

The disclosure was made in response to a legal complaint made by ClientEarth and the Worldwide Fund for Nature (WWF) in November 2022 against the Environmental Agency for its failure to monitor and enforce environmental protections on nitrogen pollution.

The complaint was based on Freedom of Information (FOI) requests submitted by WWF and ClientEarth. The FOIs revealed that between January 2020 to December 2021 the Environment Agency conducted 2,213 inspections of three key agricultural regulations, identifying breaches in almost half of farms. However, only one case was issued with a civil sanction.  

According to ClientEarth and WWF, these inspections represented just 2 percent of farms each year, suggesting that the Environment Agency has “little idea of the scale of law breaking taking place and of the damage being currently done to the environment.”

Given the high levels of nitrogen pollution in England, WWF and ClientEarth accused the Environment Agency of “an unlawful abdication of its statutory responsibilities.”

In response to the WWF and ClientEarth’s complaint, the OEP agreed that the Environment Agency had potentially breached environmental law by failing to adequately assess environmental impacts on protected conservation sites before allowing farmers to exceed manure spreading limits. English rivers are particularly at risk of nitrogen-related pollution, with over half the country classified as vulnerable to nitrogen run-off.

https://leftfootforward.org/2024/01/watchdog-confirms-government-may-have-broken-law-on-river-pollution/

Continue ReadingWatchdog confirms government may have broken law on river pollution

House of Lords give damning assessment of Therese Coffey’s dealings with water companies

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Image of a burst water main.
Image of a burst water main.

https://leftfootforward.org/2023/09/house-of-lords-give-damning-assessment-of-therese-coffeys-dealings-with-water-companies/

Committee slam a ‘lack of leadership and deep-rooted complacency’

A House of Lords committee has given a damning judgement into the work of environment secretary Therese Coffey, finding ‘deep-rooted complacency’ in government dealings with water companies.

This has come at the risk of water shortages and extreme environmental consequences, the industry and regulators’ committee found, due to a ‘lack of leadership’ in government which has meant water companies have failed to protect the environment and the water supply.

In a letter to Coffey, the committee warned that a continued under-investment in water infrastructure will have ‘serious long-term consequences for the environment and the security of water supplies’, risking future water shortages.

The inquiry was launched in June as a follow-up to a previous report titled ‘The affluent and the effluent: cleaning up the failures of water regulation’ which concluded large scale failures in the water system from under-investment and insufficient government strategy.

https://leftfootforward.org/2023/09/house-of-lords-give-damning-assessment-of-therese-coffeys-dealings-with-water-companies/

Continue ReadingHouse of Lords give damning assessment of Therese Coffey’s dealings with water companies

Water firms illegally spilled sewage on dry days – data suggests

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Image of a burst water main.
Image of a burst water main.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-66670132

Three major water companies illegally discharged sewage hundreds of times last year on days when it was not raining, a BBC investigation suggests.

The practice, known as “dry spilling”, is banned because it can lead to higher concentrations of sewage in waterways.

Thames, Wessex and Southern Water appear to have collectively released sewage in dry spills for 3,500 hours in 2022 – in breach of their permits.

Water UK, the industry body, said the spills “should be investigated”.

Collectively throughout 2022, Thames, Southern and Wessex illegally started releasing sewage on dry days 388 times – research by the BBC’s climate and data teams suggests – including during last summer when these regions were in drought.

There even appears to have been spills by all three companies on 19 July 2022, the hottest day on record, when temperatures topped 40C in some places and many people tried to cool off in rivers.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-66670132

Continue ReadingWater firms illegally spilled sewage on dry days – data suggests

Here’s why the accounts of water companies are deceptive and need investigating

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https://leftfootforward.org/2023/08/heres-why-the-accounts-of-water-companies-are-deceptive-and-need-investigating/

Parliamentary committees need to investigate water company accounting, especially as they are continuing with the practices that brought down Carillion.

Image of a burst water main.
Image of a burst water main.

Prem Sikka is an Emeritus Professor of Accounting at the University of Essex and the University of Sheffield, a Labour member of the House of Lords, and Contributing Editor at Left Foot Forward.

Ever since its privatisation in 1989, the water and sewage industry in England and Wales has set new standards in ripping people off.

Profits are made by not plugging water leaks and by dumping tons of sewage in rivers and seas. More than one trillion litres of water is lost to leaks from crumbling pipes each year. In 2022, raw sewage was dumped into rivers and seas 824 times a day, nearly 301,000 times a year over 1.75m hours. Despite higher demand, no new reservoirs have been built since privatisation. With captive customers and no competition, companies have hiked charges by 40% in real terms. The biggest winners are shareholders. More than 90% of the nine water companies are owned by overseas investors.

Since privatisation, companies have paid £72bn in dividends and another £15bn is expected by the 2030. These are largely funded by over £60bn of debt. To soothe public anxieties, Ministers claim that since 1989 water companies have invested £190bn. Such claims need to be treated with caution as the companies have a history of murky accounting practices.

Thames Water is England’s’ biggest water company. Since 2010, it has been sanctioned 92 times by the regulators and paid fines of £163m. Since privatisation, it has paid £7.2bn in dividends and has debts of around £14bn.

Taking cue from the water company, in June 2023 a Minister told parliament  that “Thames Water itself has not paid any dividends for the last six year”.  Of course, water companies are not operating as not-for-profit organisations and are masters of financial engineering and obfuscation.

Page 43 of the company’s 2022-23 financial report describes £45m payment (£37m for 2022) to its immediate parent company Thames Water Utilities Holdings Limited as “dividend” which then forwards it to Thames Water Utilities Limited and is still described as “dividend”. The same page then claims that it is not really a dividend because its purpose is to “solely to service debt obligations and group related costs of other companies within the wider Kemble Water Group”. Page 22 of the 2022 accounts of Thames Water Utilities Holdings Limited shows “Dividend Income” of £37.1m. Anything described as a “dividend” in the accounts is a dividend and in the last two years alone this amounts to £82m (£45m + £37m). Since privatisation, vast amounts are likely to have travelled via this route to the company’s ultimate controllers but are not included in the £7.2m of dividends.

Yorkshire Water is also engaged in sleight of hands. Since 2010, it has paid £1.2bn in dividends and claims to have stopped paying dividends from 2017-18. However, page 137 of its 2022-23 financial report states that the company paid £62.3m “dividends” to its parent company. Its 2021-22 accounts (page 99) state that “the Board of Yorkshire Water has approved the payment of £52.6m in dividends.”

… [article continues discussing Water companies’ financial obfuscation.]

https://leftfootforward.org/2023/08/heres-why-the-accounts-of-water-companies-are-deceptive-and-need-investigating/

Continue ReadingHere’s why the accounts of water companies are deceptive and need investigating

Fury as national health check of England’s waters faces six year wait

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https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2023/aug/19/fury-as-national-health-check-of-englands-waters-delayed-by-six-years

Exclusive: Assessment that used to happen annually will now take six years despite rising concerns

April 2023 Surfers Against Sewage and Extinction Rebellion protests in St Agnes, Perranporth, Truro and Charlestown which unveiled spoof Blue Plaques to the MPs and Conservative Government who allowed raw sewage to be dumped in the sea (Image: Surfers Against Sewage)
April 2023 Surfers Against Sewage and Extinction Rebellion protests in St Agnes, Perranporth, Truro and Charlestown which unveiled spoof Blue Plaques to the MPs and Conservative Government who allowed raw sewage to be dumped in the sea (Image: Surfers Against Sewage)

A nationwide annual health check of England’s water bodies which used to take place annually, will now take six years to complete, prompting anger from campaigners and politicians, as public alarm grows over the state of the nation’s rivers and coasts.

The assessments, undertaken by the Environment Agency, look at the ecological and chemical condition of rivers, lakes, groundwater, and transitional and coastal waters, and are required under the Water Framework Directive (WFD).

In 2019, the last time the full assessments took place, just 14% of rivers were in good ecological health and none met standards for good chemical health. Before 2016 the tests were done annually, but the government has now opted not to deliver a complete update until 2025, the latest permissible under the WFD.

Clean water advocates accused the government of trying to hide the data.

Rivers activist Feargal Sharkey said: “The future of England’s rivers has been sacrificed in a cynical act of self preservation by the very same failed government agency set up to protect them.”

The Green party peer Natalie Bennett said the government “clearly recognised the huge public anger about the parlous state of our waterways, but instead of taking action to clean them up, it is instead trying to hide the data”.

She added that the “stench of pollution, the choking of our waters with sewage, plastics and farm runoff is evident to all”, and that the Green party wanted to see a return to more frequent publication of the river health statistics. “Democracy demands transparency, and that’s one more thing this government is not delivering.”

https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2023/aug/19/fury-as-national-health-check-of-englands-waters-delayed-by-six-years

Continue ReadingFury as national health check of England’s waters faces six year wait

Six water companies to face legal action over alleged underreporting of pollution incidents

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https://morningstaronline.co.uk/article/b/six-water-companies-to-face-legal-action-over-alleged-underreporting-of-pollution-incidents

Members of the public and campaigners from Hastings and St Leonards Clean Water Action, protest against raw sewage release incidents on the beach in St Leonards, Sussex, August 26, 2022

SIX private water companies across England are facing landmark legal action over allegations of under-reporting pollution incidents and overcharging customers.

Severn Trent Water, Thames Water, United Utilities, Anglian Water, Yorkshire Water and Northumbrian Water could end up forking out more than £800 million in compensation to over 20 million customers if the cases are successful.

Environmental and water consultant Professor Carolyn Roberts, who is being represented by Leigh Day Solicitors, claimed that the firms have broken competition laws by misleading the Environment Agency and regulator Ofwat.

She alleges they have been under-reporting the number of sewage discharges, resulting in customers being “unfairly overcharged” for wastewater services, and that had sewage discharge reporting been accurate it would have lowered customer bills.

https://morningstaronline.co.uk/article/b/six-water-companies-to-face-legal-action-over-alleged-underreporting-of-pollution-incidents

Continue ReadingSix water companies to face legal action over alleged underreporting of pollution incidents

Sewage scandal goes to the High Court

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https://envirotecmagazine.com/2023/07/03/sewage-scandal-goes-to-the-high-court/

April 2023 Surfers Against Sewage and Extinction Rebellion protests in St Agnes, Perranporth, Truro and Charlestown which unveiled spoof Blue Plaques to the MPs and Conservative Government who allowed raw sewage to be dumped in the sea (Image: Surfers Against Sewage)
April 2023 Surfers Against Sewage and Extinction Rebellion protests in St Agnes, Perranporth, Truro and Charlestown which unveiled spoof Blue Plaques to the MPs and Conservative Government who allowed raw sewage to be dumped in the sea (Image: Surfers Against Sewage)

On Wednesday 5 to Thursday 6 July, the High Court will hear a legal challenge that aims to force the Government to toughen up its plan for reducing sewage dumped in England’s rivers and seas. Good Law Project is supporting the Marine Conservation SocietyRichard Haward’s Oysters and surfer and activist Hugo Tagholm as they argue that the Government’s strategy is inadequate, allowing water companies to pollute waters and beaches for another 27 years.

England’s sewers were designed with 14,500 storm overflows to stop them becoming overwhelmed, allowing a mixture of surface water and sewage to be discharged during heavy rainfall. But according to the Environment Agency, these overflows are now used on a routine basis. Water companies discharged untreated sewage through storm overflows more than 300,000 times in 2022 for a total of 1.7 million hours.

The Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (DEFRA) published the Storm Overflows Discharge Reduction Plan to tackle this in August last year. It imposed a deadline of 2035 for reducing the sewage flowing into bathing waters and areas of ecological importance, but gave companies until 2050 to stop discharges elsewhere.

This legal challenge, which has been backed by cross-party MPs, aims to force the Government to bring forward these deadlines and introduce tougher targets.

https://envirotecmagazine.com/2023/07/03/sewage-scandal-goes-to-the-high-court/

Continue ReadingSewage scandal goes to the High Court

Tory minister makes baffling defence of water privatisation

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https://leftfootforward.org/2023/06/tory-minister-makes-baffling-defence-of-water-privatisation/

… MPs from different parties lined up to quiz the minister on how the government will tackle the crisis gripping the water sector. Among those to question Pow was Green MP Caroline Lucas.

She said: “Water companies had no debt when they were privatised. Since [then], they have borrowed £53 billion, and much of that has been used to help pay the £72 billion in dividends. Meanwhile, we have this appalling sewage scandal – particularly in the South East of England. We have a failing water company – the Southern Water company – that my constituents have no choice but to rely on and it’s considering raising bills by £279 per year by 2030, largely to pay for the investment that they should have been making in the previous years.

“Doesn’t that just show that the privatisation of water was a serious mistake and it needs to be permanently rectified?”

In an unbelievable response, Pow came back: “What I would say is that privatisation has enabled clean and plentiful water to come out of our taps.”

https://leftfootforward.org/2023/06/tory-minister-makes-baffling-defence-of-water-privatisation/

Continue ReadingTory minister makes baffling defence of water privatisation

London water firms slammed as city’s rivers see nearly 2,000 sewage dumps in a year and are ‘only caught out twice’

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April 2023 Surfers Against Sewage and Extinction Rebellion protests in St Agnes, Perranporth, Truro and Charlestown which unveiled spoof Blue Plaques to the MPs and Conservative Government who allowed raw sewage to be dumped in the sea (Image: Surfers Against Sewage)
April 2023 Surfers Against Sewage and Extinction Rebellion protests in St Agnes, Perranporth, Truro and Charlestown which unveiled spoof Blue Plaques to the MPs and Conservative Government who allowed raw sewage to be dumped in the sea (Image: Surfers Against Sewage)

https://www.mylondon.news/news/london-water-firms-slammed-citys-27195198

The Mayor of London, Sadiq Khan, has been urged to clamp down on sewage dumping in London’s rivers, as the capital’s water companies have only been prosecuted twice in four years. This comes after data has revealed that 31 of the city’s waterways saw 1,809 combined overflow discharges, resulting in raw sewage being pumped into London’s rivers and streams for over 7,000 hours in 2022.

A freedom of information request sent by the Liberal Democrats to the Environment Agency last year revealed that the organisation took action over pollution in London rivers on only eight occasions between 2017 and 2021, and just two incidents resulted in prosecutions.

Mr Khan pledged in July 2020 to reduce water pollution incidents by 30 per cent by 2025. Hina Bokhari AM, the Liberal Dems’ London Assembly environment spokesperson, said: “It is clear from the sheer scale of raw sewage entering London’s waters that the UK Conservative Government has utterly failed to get to grips with this problem. Sewage dumping is endangering human health, our wildlife and our tourism industry across London and the whole country.

https://www.mylondon.news/news/london-water-firms-slammed-citys-27195198

Continue ReadingLondon water firms slammed as city’s rivers see nearly 2,000 sewage dumps in a year and are ‘only caught out twice’

‘Revolving door’ of staff between water firms and regulators clamping down on sewage ‘stinks’

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https://inews.co.uk/news/politics/battle-against-sewage-undermined-revolving-door-staff-2435283

At least six senior workers identified as moving jobs between regulators including Ofwat and the Environment Agency and water companies in Lib Dem investigation

SWANAGE, ENGLAND - AUGUST 19: Beach goers are seen enjoying the weather at the beach, on August 19, 2022 in Swanage, United Kingdom. Swanage was named, on Wessex Water's website, as one of the beaches where sewage was discharged on Wednesday??August 17th. (Photo by Finnbarr Webster/Getty Images)
It comes amid widespread concerns around the number of sewage spills in the UK (Photo: Finnbarr Webster/Getty)

By Arj Singh

Deputy Political Editor

June 26, 2023 6:00 am(Updated 8:19 am)

There is a “revolving door” of executives between regulators supposed to clamp down on sewage spills and water companies, raising questions about a “conflict of interest”, an investigation has revealed.

At least six senior current industry staff members have been identified as moving jobs between regulators including Ofwat and the Environment Agency and water firms such as Southern, Northumbrian and South West Water.

It has triggered warnings that regulators could feel “sympathetic to their mates at their former company” or “water company executives who know how to avoid regulations”, and calls for the anti-corruption watchdog Acoba (Advisory Committee on Business Appointments) to investigate.

https://inews.co.uk/news/politics/battle-against-sewage-undermined-revolving-door-staff-2435283

Continue Reading‘Revolving door’ of staff between water firms and regulators clamping down on sewage ‘stinks’