Fining English water companies for spilling raw sewage will soon become quicker and easier, the government has said. New proposals would see automatic fines of up to 20,000 issued for some minor offences and make it simpler to punish more serious ones. In recent years data from the water industry's own monitoring equipment has shown how frequently rules are broken around sewage spills. But the regulator, the Environment Agency, has by its own admission struggled to act.
Eight female activists claim to have attempted a citizen's arrest on Anglian Water's chief executive at a railway station in south London. British Transport Police were called when the group surrounded Mark Thurston, who earns a reported 720,000 salary, at Coulston South around 7am on Wednesday. They held hands in a circle to prevent him from leaving the scene while one woman read Mr Thurston charges they accuse Anglian Water of including environmental damage from illegal sewage spills.
A surfing group was left devastated when it called off a national competition after raw sewage was dumped into the sea off Cornwall. Competitors were in the water for the English Interclub Surfing Championships in Porthtowan, on the northern coast of the county near Redruth, when lifeguards issued a red flag to organisers. The status which indicates danger and means people should not enter the water was triggered after South West Water alerted the local council over a sewage discharge into the sea.
As our water pipes have been left to crumble into disrepair with vital maintenance delayed, the water companies have wasted millions on expensive legal firms tasked with downplaying the extent of the sewage scandal. My constituents will be outraged by what our committee has uncovered. That money should be spent fixing our broken water infrastructure not trying to deny the scale of the problem.
A new water ombudsman will oversee improvements in consumer relations and environmental compliance in the water sector, addressing failures of the current system emphasized by Steve Reed.
