All 11 water and wastewater companies in England and Wales are now under scrutiny over sewage spills, after the regulator said it was expanding its investigation. This week, Ofwat opened enforcement cases into four more firms – Dŵr Cymru Welsh Water, Hafren Dyfrdwy, Severn Trent and United Utilities – as part of its probe into […]
The Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) has written to water companies urging them to ‘be open’ about sewage spills and calling on companies to be as transparent as possible with customers about waste discharges into rivers. The ICO is a non-departmental public body which reports directly to Parliament and is sponsored by the Department for Science, […]
The Environment Agency is exploring the feasibility of using cutting-edge artificial intelligence (AI) and machine-learning technology to digitise, read and interpret 10,000 years’ worth of hydrological data on river levels and flows. The risk of flooding and drought within England is a priority area of focus for the Environment Agency (EA) which strives to protect […]
More legal problems for the government, regulators and the water industry this week, including The Supreme Court ruling against United Utilities in appeal case on sewage discharges brought by Manchester Ship Canal Company. According to The Guardian, the ruling paves the way for businesses and public to sue water firms over sewage. The story is […]
Lots more coverage of water quality and sewage overflows again this week. Just some of the coverage…. Labour and Lib Dems step up campaigns on sewage dumping (BBC) Revealed: the ‘catastrophic scale’ of sewage spills in England and Wales (Guardian) ‘Poo in the Water’: How Financial Engineering Sullied Britain’s Most Famous River (Wall Street Journal) […]
A recent BBC explainer looks at the evidence around so-called ‘dry spills’, claiming that “every major English water company has reported data suggesting they’ve discharged raw sewage when the weather is dry – a practice which is potentially illegal.” Anglian Water responded by publishing De-mystifying dry day spills, rejecting the claims and ‘citing flawed methodology […]
Reported in The Mirror online Competitors taking part in a triathlon which involved swimming in the River Thames have been struck down with vomiting and diarrhoea with some even rushed to hospital because they felt so unwell. A large group took part in the Royal Windsor Triathlon in Berkshire on Sunday, but a number said […]
From the BBC More than one million tonnes of raw sewage is estimated to have been released from a pumping station into the North Sea in 2023. Northumbrian Water produced the estimate of how much sewage was released from its Whitburn site after a Freedom of Information (FoI) request from South Tyneside resident Steve Lavelle. […]