13 Oct 2026
Photo description: Two striped deck chairs, one red and one blue, on a pebbled beach, with the sea in the background. Photo credit: Adobe Stock Water companies in England failed to report more than 50,000 sewage discharges inside the hour required by law during the first six months of 2026, according to analysis published […]
08 Oct 2026
Image description: Aerial drone photo of the town of Ripon in North Yorkshire in the UK showing traffic going over the main road and bridge going over a River Ure in the winter time with trees on either side A £1.5m scheme by Yorkshire Water to reduce storm overflow discharges into the River Ure […]
09 Jul 2026
Photo credit: Darren Tolley Severn Trent Water has been found in breach of its wastewater obligations, though Ofwat has decided against a financial penalty. The regulator concluded the company failed in its duties to provide drainage and manage the contents of its sewers, and had historically breached licence requirements to maintain adequate processes and systems. […]
03 Apr 2024
Following last week’s publication of storm overflow spill data for 2023, covered in last week’s news, the sewage has really been hitting the fan The BBC highlighted that sewage spills into England’s rivers and seas by water companies more than doubled last year. According to the Environment Agency there were 3.6 million hours of spills […]
22 Jan 2024
The Gurdian reports that the UK water industry’s ‘urgent’ plan to tackle sewage pollution has been delayed by four months, with no publication date in sight. Government ministers last year demanded water executives send them a “plan for urgent change” to tackle outflows which spill untreated human waste into rivers and seas. Last May the […]
03 Jan 2024
Defra has announced that 100% of storm overflows across the water network in England have now been fitted with Event Duration Monitors (EDMs), meeting the ambitious target set by the government to do so by the end of 2023. Event Duration Monitors increase transparency by measuring how, when and for how long a storm overflow […]
13 Dec 2023
The Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, Steve Barclay, has written to water companies asking them to improve maintenance programmes to ensure these are not a cause of storm overflow discharges. He highlights this is a legal requirement that water companies should already be delivering and states his plans to closely follow […]
13 Dec 2023
Water companies are putting in solutions to improve storm overflows, including this new £1.3 million scheme in Bath from Wessex Water. Whilst the drive to reduce overflows is welcome, it would be great to see more sustainable and innovative projects coming to the fore. Read more about the Bath scheme here.
