The government is set to introduce the “toughest targets” for water companies in England in a bid to crack down on sewage spills.

Under the Storm Overflows Discharge Reduction Plan, water companies will be required to deliver £56 billion of capital investment over 25 years – their largest ever environmental infrastructure investment – to tackle storm sewage discharges by 2050.

They will need to take measures, such as increasing the capacity of their networks and treating sewage before its discharged, to protect public health and prevent pollution whilst reducing all discharges.

Targets include water companies having to improve all storm overflows discharging into or near every designated bathing water and improve 75% of overflows discharging to high priority nature sites by 2035.

By 2050, this will apply to all remaining storm overflows covered by the targets, regardless of location.

Failure to meet these targets could result in substantial fines or having to return money to customers.

In addition, water companies will be required to publish discharge information in near real time as well as commit to tackling the root causes of the issue by taking steps to improve surface water drainage.

The plan will be reviewed in 2027 to consider how they can go further, taking into account innovation and efficiencies.

Environment Secretary George Eustice said: “This is the first government to take action to end the environmental damage caused by sewage spills. We will require water companies to protect everyone who uses our water for recreation and ensure storm overflows pose no threat to the environment.

“Water companies will need to invest to stop unacceptable sewage spills so our rivers and coast lines can have greater protection than ever before.”

The latest plan follows ongoing work by the government, the Environment Agency and Ofwat, which includes a massive expansion in monitoring frequency and duration of discharges, from around 5% in 2016 to nearly 90% in 2021, which has been used to hold companies to account.

Last year, the regulators launched the largest criminal and civil investigations into water company sewage discharges at more than 2,200 treatment works.

Since 2015, there have been 54 prosecutions against water companies, with fines of nearly £140 million.

Article source: https://www.energylivenews.com/2022/08/29/water-companies-to-face-toughest-targets-to-crack-down-on-sewage-spills/