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Watchdog warns Defra and Ofwat they could face court over sewage dumping (www.theguardian.com)

submitted 4 weeks ago by [email protected] to c/[email protected]

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The government, its water regulator and the Environment Agency could all be taken to court over their failure to tackle sewage dumping in England after a watchdog found failures to comply with the law.

An investigation by the Office for Environmental Protection (OEP) found Ofwat, the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra) and the Environment Agency (EA) all failed to stop water companies from discharging sewage into rivers and seas in England when it was not raining heavily. The OEP was set up in 2020 to replace the role the European Union had played in regulating and enforcing environmental law in the UK.

The law permits water companies to spill sewage only during exceptional circumstances such as extreme weather, but in reality human waste is routinely dumped in waterways even when it is not raining. Sewage is spilled into rivers and seas because in the UK there are combined sewage overflows (CSOs) into which water runoff from roads, sewage from homes and businesses, and “grey water” such as that from baths and washing machines all combine.

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[–] [email protected] 3 points 4 weeks ago* (last edited 4 weeks ago) (1 children)

I mean that's cool, but surely the watchdog is biting the wrong hand here? It appears to be fining the taxpayer by proxy - though it may kick DEFRA and OFWAT into actually enforcing the regulations.

Surely it's the fucking water firms that need their arses chewed for spoiling rivers and lakes with abandon, while still paying out dividends?

[–] [email protected] 1 points 4 weeks ago

Yes but these are the departments issued with that task since brexit.

Them not enforcing is why water companies do not feel they need to do the job.

Unfortunatly finning government ministers personally is not possible.