The Office for Environmental Protection (OEP) has said that it is to carry out an investigation into the roles of Ofwat, the Environment Agency and the Defra Secretary of State in the regulation of combined sewer overflows (CSOs) in England. The aims of the investigation are to determine whether these authorities have failed to comply […]
Long-term plans to remove surface water from the sewer network are being drawn up by utility chiefs, but they stressed it has to be affordable. Steve Wilson, Dwr Cymru/Welsh Water’s managing director of wastewater services, told a meeting of Swansea councillors and other public sector representatives that doing so was its biggest challenge in the […]
Last week we covered CIWEM’s new report ‘River water quality and storm overflows – a systems approach to maximising improvement’. From that report, CIWEM director of policy Alastair Chisholm sets out ten big picture asks on overflows: Water companies to deploy a hierarchy of catchment-wide measures to reduce storm overflows, prioritising nature-based solutions and active […]
Consultation on the Storm Overflows Discharge Reduction Plan outlines a step change in how water companies tackle the number of discharges of untreated sewage. Water companies will face strict limits on when they can use storm overflows and must completely eliminate the ecological harm any storm sewage discharges cause to the environment and significantly reduce […]
Minister Pow’s visit to the Wye highlights the ongoing high profile of river pollution. More alarming for Government (see below) is the Daily Telegraph has begun a Clean Rivers campaign which it has run on its front page for several days this week. Minister Pow visit to the River Wye Defra Media ‘There has been […]
CIWEM: ‘ OVERVIEW The purpose of this guide is to assist water companies with best practice for EDM to comply with the conditions within a discharge permit. This guide collates current good practice on Event Duration Monitoring (EDM) of discharges from combined sewer overflows and other permitted storm overflows. Note that this document relates to […]
Read the Defra view on this here Surfers Against Sewage ‘Today, we reveal yet further shocking evidence of the sewage pollution crisis plaguing the UK’s seas and rivers through our 2021 Water Quality Report. Our findings categorically show that water companies are increasing the discharge of harmful amounts of sewage into the environment with devastating consequences […]
Southern Water is launching a task force to cut storm overflows by 80 per cent by 2030 as part of the company’s zero tolerance approach to pollution – customers have made it clear the use of storm releases is no longer acceptable. Ian McAulay, Southern Water’s CEO, said: ”There is a growing call to take […]