Stop sewage dumping: It’s time to act
Water companies continue to get away with dumping filthy sewage into our rivers, lakes and seas.
Shockingly, our Freedom of Information request reveals Ofwat, the regulator, hasn't fined any of them since 2021 - and their investigation team is just over 8 full-time staff!
After years of Conservative inaction, we need urgent steps to fix this.
Since 2021, £35 million in bonuses have been awarded to water company bosses while they fail customers and continue to dump sewage. While executives line their pockets, the public pays the price for their failures.
This week, we tabled an amendment to the Water Bill to outlaw these bonuses until sewage spills end and leaks are fixed.
Liberal Democrats believe that everyone has the right to enjoy clean, safe water and unpolluted rivers, lakes, and coastlines. We are committed to ending the national sewage scandal and holding water companies accountable for their environmental impact. We've passed new policy to do just that:
- Replace Ofwat with the Clean Water Authority: The Clean Water Authority will regulate water companies with a focus on both financial and environmental performance, taking over river health oversight from the Environment Agency and working with Natural Resources Wales. Water companies' ownership structures will be reformed to ensure they act in the public interest, with local environmental experts required on their boards.
- Provide More Funding to Regulators: We will increase funding for the Clean Water Authority, the Environment Agency, the Office for Environmental Protection, and Natural England. This will ensure they have the resources needed to improve regulation and enforce environmental laws.
- Strengthen the Clean Water Authority’s powers: With this new regulator, water companies will be required to publish real-time sewage spill data, meet legally binding targets to prevent spills by 2030, face licence revocation and fines for non-compliance, while a new network of inspectors will oversee their performance to ensure accountability.
It’s time to get serious about water and put an end to the sewage scandal once and for all.