Sewage spills record high as waste poured into rivers for 3.6 million hours

Raw sewage was poured into England’s rivers, lakes and coastal areas for 3.6 million hours last year, making 2023 the worst year on record for sewage spills.

Water companies in England discharged untreated waste from ‘storm overflow’ points 464,056 times last year, official figures released by the Environment Agency on Wednesday show.

Campaigners said the figures were are “final indictment” for the water industry and called on the sector’s regulators, Ofwat and the Environment Agency, to be reformed.

There are over 14,500 storm overflows across England, which water companies are permitted to discharge raw sewage from during exceptional rainfall to prevent their systems from becoming overwhelmed.

But public anger has been growing over how often this is happening, with water companies being accused of not investing enough in their infrastructure to prevent these discharges.

The data for 2023 shows a 129 per cent increase in the total hours of sewage spills since 2022, which is the highest since water companies began reporting this information in 2020.

This year marks the first year that all storm overflows in England are fitted with a monitor. However this development does not fully account for the huge jump in spills.

The increase in sewage spills is in part a reflection of the bad weather that hit the UK in the second half of last year, when Storms Babet and Ciarán brought record rainfall to parts of the country. The figures raise questions over how Britain’s creaky sewer system will be able to cope with climate change, which is expected to bring more intense rainstorms to the UK.

The campaign group River Action said the latest figure were “a final indictment” for England’s under-fire water firms, which it accused of “having run amok with billpayers’ money for decades”.

Labour accused the Government of being “too weak to get tough” with water companies and called on ministers to immediately ban bonuses for polluting water bosses.

The Government has unveiled a series of announcements aimed at tackling the country’s sewage crisis in the lead up to today’s figures, including an £180m plan to fast-track investment to prevent spills over the next year.

On Tuesday, the Environment Agency launched a new whistleblowing platform designed to make it easier for employees to report on serious environmental harm being caused by water firms.

This story is being updated.