The newly established Office of Environmental Protection will investigate whether Environment Secretary George Eustice, the Environment Agency and the water services regulator Ofwat have failed in their duties in water quality management. It comes amid growing concerns about the deterioration of water quality in England’s rivers and seas, as storm sewage discharges increased by 37% from 292,864 incidents in 2019 to 403,171 in 2020. As a rule, state-owned water companies are allowed to dispose of raw human waste only in exceptional cases, such as after extreme rainfall. However, the hundreds of thousands of incidents show that companies systematically dispose of wastewater in this way. The GLP investigation will seek to “determine whether these authorities have not complied with their respective duties in relation to the regulation, including monitoring and enforcing the duties of water companies for wastewater management,” the agency said in a statement. The research announcement comes after England chief physician Professor Chris Whitty described the growing problem of river faeces as a “major issue” and “unacceptable for health reasons”, as he urged water companies to act more quickly. This week, Green MP Caroline Lucas visited the polluted Waveney River in the East of England to point out how sewage and wet wipes are destroying the waterway and on the other side of the country activists paraded in Shropshire wearing hats, fish and toilet roll suits. called for a halt to sewage into the Severn River. Demonstrations have also taken place to highlight similar problems on the Wye River. Last week, river pollution was also in the headlines, as sewage discharges into the Devon rivers became the focus of the Tiverton and Honiton by-elections as the Liberal Democrat candidate – who ousted the Tories – revealed his youngest son got sick after going for a swim. No river or lake in England currently has a clean bill, the Environment Commission warned earlier this year. Only 14 percent of English rivers are in “good” ecological condition, with pollution from agriculture, sewage, roads and disposable plastics contributing to a dangerous “chemical cocktail” crossing our waterways, she said. commission. OEP chief regulator Helen Venn said: “Poor water quality is an important, long-term, systemic issue and one of the most pressing environmental issues at the moment. “This is a complex area and there is already a lot of work in progress to try to address the problem of untreated wastewater in our rivers. “Our research will contribute to this project by providing clarity on the legal responsibilities of the various stakeholders to ensure that problem-solving measures can be targeted and effective.” He added that at this stage the GOP does not know exactly “where the investigation will lead us”, but said that “it is likely to lead to enforcement actions” or broader actions to improve legal and regulatory systems. “Our priority will be to protect and improve the environment,” he said. The investigation follows a complaint by Salmon and Trout Conservation. The lawyer for the Guy Linley-Adams group, who filed the complaint, said: and from Ofwat for many years “. Mr Linley-Adams was among the witnesses who testified before the Lords’ Committee on Industry and Regulatory Affairs on Tuesday, describing the government’s current plans to deal with sewage as a “smoke and mirror exercise”. “What this plan is doing is that it seems to reduce the legal responsibilities of water companies and launch them in the future.” He said it allowed water companies “to face this problem for decades”. “It has been 30 years since privatization. It is time to tackle these problems.” The committee was also briefed by Mark Lloyd, chief executive of The Rivers Trust, who described the government’s plan to reduce storm surges as “ambitious” and said it was “offering too little and too late”. “It’s going too late. Many of the companies are committed to achieving more than that by an earlier date, but it seems to me that [the government] kicks the box in successive administrations “. Stressing the enormous amount of surface water that sewage systems have to deal with after the rains, Mr Lloyd said the government’s existing plans “fail to understand a holistic approach” to water management, which he urged to include nature-based solutions. . Instead of looking at the role of water companies in tackling water pollution individually, Mr Lloyd said an interdepartmental assessment of the scale of the problem was needed so that a more integrated strategy could be developed. “Local authorities, home builders and highway operators – all need to be involved in the solution, as everyone is part of the problem,” he added. However, three major concerns remain that the GLP is “missing the teeth” needed to make a substantial change. Megan Randles, a political consultant at Greenpeace, told the Independent: “Finding out who is ultimately responsible for the worrying amount of sewage in our rivers should be an important step in reducing the amount of sewage in our rivers. But if the OEP has no enforcement powers and the government prioritizes the water company’s profits over public concerns, then the benefits of the investigation will be somewhat limited. “We have a toothless guard who protects our rivers by giving a frustrated look to offenders, and naming and shame do not really work for the shameless.” Environment Minister Rebecca Pau told the Independent: “While we fully support the OEP investigation, we are moving further and faster than any other government to protect and enhance the health of our rivers and seas. “We are the first government to prioritize the environment for water companies as part of our Strategic Policy Statement to Ofwat. We have secured 7 7.1 billion in investment from water companies to protect and improve the environment by 2020 to 2025 and are about to launch the largest water company investment program ever in storm overflows with legally binding targets to drive it. “We have forced water companies to pay 8 138 million in fines since 2015 and today, Ofwat is launching further enforcement measures. “We are clear that the amount of wastewater discharged by water companies is unacceptable and they have to clean up their act and the salaries they pay themselves must be commensurate with their cleaning history.” A spokesman for the Environment Agency told the Independent: “EA fully supports the OPC and intends to cooperate fully with its research. “EA does not cause pollution in English waters, it does the individuals and companies that pollute them. That is why we are more focused than ever on holding industry accountable for reducing pollution, tackling storm surges and investing most of their profits in the environment. “To do this, we have significantly increased monitoring and transparency by water companies in recent years, increasing the number of overflows monitored throughout the network, with all 15,000 overflows being monitored by 2023. In 2020, we worked as part of of the Storm Overflows Taskforce to increase transparency regarding the use of storm overflow and we are continuing significant investigations into possible widespread non-compliance by sewerage companies. “ “Another inquiry into the Tories’ mishandling of Britain’s dirty water crisis is a condemnation of their environmental history,” said Alex Sobel, a shadow minister for nature and the home environment. “For too long, the government has allowed water companies to treat our rivers and waterways as open sewers. They promised to clean them, but the ecological standards have not changed since 2016 “. “The government has refused to heed Labor calls for higher fines on water companies, proper annual parliamentary scrutiny by Defra, Ofwat and the Environment Agency, as well as an appropriate plan to reduce discarded wastewater.” Earlier in the day, Ofwat said it had added South West Water to a list of water companies it was “seriously concerned about” and was investigating. Others include Anglian Water, Northumbrian Water, Thames Water, Wessex Water and Yorkshire Water.
