Sir James Bevan, CEO at the Environment Agency, has told the House of Lords Industry and Regulators Committee that “population growth, climate change and public awareness have led us to where we are” with regard to ongoing problems with storm overflow sewage discharges.

The Environment Agency Chief was appearing alongside Alan Lovell, Chair, Environment Agency in a live evidence session as part of the peers’ current investigation into the work of water sector regulator Ofwat.

Both of the Agency’s top officials also expressed their concerns about the possibility of potential further cuts in the EA’s monitoring activities in the course of the evidence session. Alan Lovell began the evidence session by expressing his concern about the possibility of potential further cuts in the EA’s monitoring activities.

Describing regulation as one of the key tools in the EA’s toolbox, Sir James Bevan told the Committee that the Agency was in constant dialogue with the water companies “at pretty much every level”.

EA Chief on storm overflow issues “Population growth, climate change and public awareness have led us to where we are” 

Lord Blackwell raised the issue of storm overflow sewage discharges and asked Sir James whether if the EA went back 10 or 15 years, whether it would have been possible to make “whatever investment was required to avoid that happening.”

“If so, why did that not happen? Was it a regulatory failure, or was it to do with government policy?” he asked.

Sir James Bevan began by saying that the state of UK waters “really is mixed” and highlighted that the Victorians designed the combined sewer overflow system, which is now more than 100 years old. “What has changed since the Victorian era is, first, population growth; we have more people and therefore more sewage. Secondly, there is climate change; we have more and more violent rainfall and that is causing more spillage. Thirdly, in the last five years or so, there has been much greater public awareness of combined sewer overflows and a demand, which we share, for improvement. Those things have led us to where we are,” he explained.

Sir James on sewer overflows: “it is a £100-billion or £200-billion problem”

“It is a £100-billion or £200-billion problem. The cleanest and obvious solution is a modern system that separates sewage from rainwater. Those things exist, but the estimate of the cost of retrofitting the whole country to that system is in the region of £100 billion to £200 billion.”

Lord Blackwell sought further clarification whether in part, this had arisen because the Environment Agency were not aware early enough of the scale of the problem until the monitors were fitted.

Sir James Bevan replied: “I do not think anybody, not even the water companies, was aware of the scale of what was going on, because until a few years ago people had not really thought that it was an issue of particular importance. The fact that there has been greater public and media scrutiny of what is happening, which I welcome, has helped both us and the water companies to focus on the issue.”

A full account of the Environment Agency evidence session in the House of Lords can be read in WaterBriefing here.