Lincolnshire’s environment boss has argued that, despite some local improvements, the amount of raw sewage entering open watercourses is “still too much”.
Councillor Colin Davie (pictured), portfolio holder for economic development, environment and planning at Lincolnshire County Council, has insisted water companies need to do more to prevent it, and that the water regulator Ofwat should be more challenging in holding them to account.
According to data from the Environment Agency, water companies spilled raw sewage into the sea and rivers in England for a record 3.61 million hours in 2024, writes Local Democracy Reporter James Turner.
Water companies have previously highlighted actions already taken to reduce the number of spills – which are permitted during periods of heavy rainfall through ‘storm overflows’ – as well as planned future improvements. Anglian Water plans to invest £1 billion over the next five years to tackle these spills.
“Any sewage going into the open watercourses is something we should be doing everything we can to prevent,” said Coun Davie. He suggested that water companies need to invest in greater capacity to handle heavy rainfall events, “rather than just relying on dumping it into the sea.”
He added: “We need to see a different regulator with a lot more teeth in the future to hold the water companies to account.”
While he acknowledged the situation has shown signs of improvement, he warned meaningful change was need, such as reforming the regulator, adding: “One promising outlook becomes next year’s disaster.”
Labour’s environment secretary Steve Reed said of the EA’s stat: “These figures are disgraceful and a stark reminder of how years of underinvestment led to water companies discharging unacceptable levels of sewage into our waterways.
“We’ve already placed water companies under tough special measures through the landmark Water Act, banning unfair bonuses for polluting water bosses and introducing criminal charges for lawbreakers, but we will go further and faster. We have secured over £100bn of private sector investment to upgrade our crumbling infrastructure.”
