Sewage discharged into rivers 400,000 times in 2020

Water companies discharged raw sewage into rivers in England more than 400,000 times in 2020, according to new figures published by the Environment Agency.

Untreated effluent, including human waste, wet wipes and condoms, was released into waterways for more than three million hours last year.

Sir James Bevan, chief executive of the Environment Agency, says his organisation is “working actively with the water companies to ensure overflows are properly controlled”.

But The Rivers Trust, an organisation which campaigns to protect river environments in England and Wales, says: “This is a shocking volume of untreated contaminated wastewater reaching our rivers and shows that our current approach and infrastructure, managing storm water in particular, needs a radical overhaul.”

Campaigners have argued for greater investment in the capacity of sewage systems to cope with heavy demand during extreme weather events, which may be becoming more frequent because of climate change, according to the BBC.

“A total of £1.1bn is being invested by water companies to improve storm overflows over the next five years as part of a wider £5bn programme of environmental improvements. In addition, we are playing a leading role in the government taskforce that is looking at long-term alternatives to storm overflows,” says Water UK, which represents the water companies.

Read more in the BBC.