Not a single penny from sewage fines goes to clean up rivers

Plans to clean up rivers across England have been put on hold due to delays in funding from millions of pounds of sewage fines.

Labour is being pressured to commit to the future of an £11m fund launched by the last government, that would see fines levied against water firms used to improve England’s rivers, lakes and streams.

Charities, including the Rivers Trust and the Wildlife Trusts, say they are increasingly concerned Labour is going to discontinue the scheme and said such a move would put the Government’s manifesto commitments on rivers in doubt.

Last April, the Tories launched the Water Restoration Fund to provide grants to conservation groups, councils and farmers to protect and improve waterways.

The grants were to funded by Environment Agency fines against water companies responsible for serious sewage spills and other forms of pollution.

It is understood the previous government received a high number of applications for the fund. The first round of projects were initially due to commence in July last year, but this was delayed due to the general election.

More than six months later applicants to the fund are still waiting to hear whether they will receive any money.

Charities say they have sought clarity on whether the funding will still go ahead, but have received no assurances.

Some of the projects that are waiting for the green light include a scheme by West Cumbria Rivers Trust to restore rivers and becks within the Lake District National Park.

Plans to “re-naturalise” a series of rivers would reduce the flood risk for local communities, restore biodiversity and capture carbon, the trust said.

Calder Rivers Trust have applied for funding to establish a Yorkshire-wide agricultural advice network to help reduce the impact of pollution from farms on local waterways.

“Environmental charities like us are too often paying out of our own pockets to clean up the mess left by polluters,” said Mark Lloyd, Chief Executive of The Rivers Trust.

“We are already fighting an uphill battle to restore our waterways to good health, and to abandon this fund would put this ambition in serious doubt.”

Today, 11 conservation groups, including the Rivers Trust and Wildlife Trusts, are writing to the Secretary of State, Steve Reed, asking him to enshrine the Water Restoration Fund in law.

They say the Water (Special Measures) Bill, which was introduced by Labour when it first came into power, should include an amendment that ensures fines paid by water companies automatically go towards improving nature.

Fines levied against water companies have traditionally been returned to The Treasury until the Conservatives introduced the Water Restoration Fund last year.

Where the Water Restoration Fund is due to be spent

The initial round of the Water Restoration Fund is made up from fines levied against water companies between April 2022 and October 2023 

There were five water companies fine during the period and the money must be spent in the catchment area of each water company.

Anglian Water: £3.1m 

This includes a £560,000 fine issued following a sewage discharge that lasted 23 hours and killed 5,000 fish.

South West Water: £2.2m

The company was issued a £2.2m fine in after harmful chemicals escaped from multiple sites in Devon and Cornwall on numerous occasions, resulting in the death of thousands of fish, including protected species. 

Thames Water: £3.3m 

England’s largest water company was fined £3.3m after it discharged millions of litres of undiluted sewage into the Gatwick Stream and River Mole, killing more than 1,400 fish.

United Utilities: £800,000

The fine came after the water company illegally abstracted 22 billion litres of water from boreholes in Lancashire.

Yorkshire Water: £1.6m

The company was fined £1.6m for unauthorised sewage discharges into Bradford Beck.

In its initial year, the fund was worth £11m for fines levied between April 2022 and October 2023, however it’s likely this amount could significantly increase due to the ongoing clampdown against water companies.

The Water (Special Measures) Bill will introduce “severe and automatic” fines against water companies for pollution and conservation groups would like the government to commit to ensuring this funding went towards restoration work.

Richard Benwell, CEO of Wildlife and Countryside Link, one of the signatories of the letter, said they “support the Government’s commitment to clamp down hard on water company pollution”.

He said ministers must now “guarantee that polluters pay to fix the damage they’ve caused, rather than leave charities and the public to pick up the bill”.

Charities also raised concerns that all of the fines levied on water companies were not being channelled into the water restoration fund.

This includes a £2m fine issued against Severn Trent in February last year after the firm was found to have released the equivalent of 10 Olympic-sized swimming pools worth of untreated sewage from one treatment works between November 2019 and February 2020.

Joan Edwards, director of policy and public affairs at The Wildlife Trusts, said this money should be used for “supporting the recovery of endangered species like white-clawed crayfish and Atlantic salmon on the River Trent”.

She said: “Not one of our rivers is in a good state of health for nature. They should be teeming with wildlife, but instead have suffered decades of pollution from water companies.

“Issuing fines for this damage is a good first step, but the money must directly benefit the locations, communities and wildlife blighted by water company failures.”

The i Paper’s Save Britain’s Rivers campaign has been pressuring the Government to act to clean up the country’s polluted waterways.

Over 20 major environmental charities have backed our campaign manifesto, which includes demands to toughen the regulation of water firms and reduce sewage spills.