In response to last week’s news on the government’s review of the Environmental Improvement Plan (EIP), an interesting debate on social media around highway drainage.

In short, given that 30%-70% of storm flows in combined sewers are from roads and footpaths, should more of the cost of managing these flows be picked up by highway authorities, rather than water company bill payers (the polluter pays principle)?

A recent report by Stormwater Shepherds and CIWEM shone a light on the toxic cocktail of pollutants that runs off the UK’s road network and into our rivers and water sources every time it rains.

So why is there no mention of progress to reduce pollution from highway runoff in the latest EIP progress report?