Commons Sense

House of Commons · Ministers' Questions

Untreated Sewage: Discharge

Thursday 4 March 2021 · 2 questions

Summarised by AI from the official record, so it can contain mistakes.

Read the full transcript on Parliament.uk

At a glance

Answered 0 Partly answered 2 Not answered 0

Key points

  • Water companies are committed to a 1.1 billion programme to improve monitoring and management of sewage discharges over five years.
  • The Department has established a storm overflows taskforce to address the issue of untreated sewage discharges.
  • The Government is taking the issue seriously and aims to hold water companies accountable through the taskforce.

Topics (select to filter)

Questions & Answers

Q1 Feryal Clark Lab Enfield North
Environment
Context

Water pollution from untreated sewage affects river health and usage for water sports. Thames Water spent over 1,100 hours discharging raw sewage into the River Lea in 2019.

Question

What steps his Department is taking to ensure that untreated sewage is not discharged into rivers and other inland waters?

Answer from Rebecca Pow

Water companies are committed over the next five years to a £1.1 billion programme to improve the monitoring and management of sewage discharges. However, I have made it clear to water companies that more action is needed. That is why we have established the storm overflows taskforce which has agreed to set a long-term goal to eliminate harm from storm overflows.

Partly answered

Not addressed: Did not specify how or when the government will hold water companies accountable for discharging untreated sewage.

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Q2 Feryal Clark Lab Enfield North
Environment
Context

The River Lea, a popular waterway for sports and recreation in Enfield North constituency, suffers from severe pollution due to raw sewage discharge. Thames Water discharged over 1,100 hours of raw sewage into the river in 2019.

Question

When will the Government finally hold water companies to account to protect our waterways properly?

Answer from Rebecca Pow

The hon. Lady raises a very serious issue, and indeed the Department is taking it very seriously. As I said, water companies already spend £1.1 billion to improve their monitoring and discharging, but we have set up the taskforce to hold their feet to the fire to come up with measures for setting a long-term goal of eliminating sewage outlets.

Partly answered

Not addressed: Did not provide a specific timeline or concrete actions by water companies to address the River Lea's pollution.

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