Liberal Democrats are warning water firms of a “scandalous cover-up” as they argue companies are failing to disclose how much sewage is being discharged into rivers, lakes and coastlines.
The Lib Dems tried to establish the volume of pollution through Environmental Information Requests after it emerged that water firms are facing legal claims that they underreport pollution and overcharge customers. The Lib Dems say they were told the data doesn’t exist.
Lib Dem environment spokesman Tim Farron said the water firms “could be guilty of a scandalous cover-up.”
“We have no idea how many billions of litres of sewage are being pumped into our precious rivers and lakes.”
“The true extent of environmental damage caused by this scandal is completely unknown,” he added.
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Industry body Water UK called the claim “fabricated and completely false”, saying firms were fixing the problem.
“Only a tiny handful of monitors record volume. We could expand this, but bills would go up to pay for it.”
“We would prefer to get on and actually fix the problem rather than delaying progress by installing ever more monitors that would tell us nothing whatsoever about actual impact,” the spokesperson added.
Last month, Thames Water had been fined after millions of litres of raw sewage flooded two rivers near Gatwick. Earlier this year, the Environment Agency found water companies had released raw sewage into rivers and seas in England for more than 1.75 million hours in 2022 – averaging 825 spills per day.
