1 week Ago By David Parsley
When environment minister Steve Reed revealed plans to lock up water executives if they do not co-operate on sewage spill investigations, he was hoping to show the new Labour government is ready to finally fix the sewage crisis. However, he received a backlash from water campaigners, who not only don’t believe any of the executives will see the inside of a prison cell, but also voiced concerns about the lack of policy and investment to actually deal with the UK’s failing sewage infrastructure. Campaigners told i Mr Reed’s announcement originally included no mention of a root and branch review into the water industry’s failings before it was “hastily added” after pressure from environmental groups ahead of a speech at Thames Rowing Club in Putney on Thursday morning.
It is also understood that Reed also made no mention of a review when he met campaigners including Feargal Sharkey on Tuesday. Despite a review eventually being pledged, with more details to be set out later this autumn, campaigners fear there is a gaping in hole in the Government’s strategy to fix the water industry. Charles Watson, founder and chairman of River Action UK, was among many activists to wonder why Reed mentioned so little on how Labour would stop the environmental catastrophe that resulted in 464,056 raw sewage spills in 2023 , up 54 per cent from 301,091 in 2022.
“The big problem for us is that he’s put forward a long list of measures which coincidentally cost absolutely nothing to government,” says Mr Watson. “They’ve obviously gone through what they can do that won’t cost taxpayer or the government anything. None of these measures are going to do anything to fix the fundamental problem.
“Threatening to send bosses to jail if they obstruct an investigation makes for a great headline but nobody’s ever going to jail, and this doesn’t address the fundamental issues.” While they have been filling our rivers and sea with sewage, water company chiefs took home £100m in salary and bonuses over the past decade. “If you saw the initial statement from Reed it made no mention of an industry review,” said Mr Watson.
“But after people like us and other campaign groups pointed out that sending water bosses to prison wasn’t going to fix the critical infrastructure problems it seems the announcement of a review was hastily added to his speech on the same morning.” Dani Jordan, director of campaigns at Surfers Against Sewage (SAS), is a little more charitable, but does add that any review needs to be quick. “The fact that there is a water bill this soon into this Labour government is a big win for us as campaigners,” says Mr Jordan.
“The announcement that surprised us is the commitment to review but it has to be quick and not take years. “We should see the results of this review being implemented within the first year of the new Labour government.” As for what the review should include, Jordan suggests nothing should be left out as the Government considers how to bring the billions of investment required to not only fix the existing leaks, but build new infrastructure to ensure a clean and reliable water supply to a population that has grown from 57 million when water privatisation was implemented in 1989, to 69 million today.
“It has to consider everything, including renationalisation,” she says. “But, most importantly, this review has to show us where the investment is going to come from to upgrade currently and build new water infrastructure. “Customers really should not foot the bill given the tens of billions the water companies have taken out since privatisation, but we live in the real world.
“Perhaps, if the Government forced the water companies to stop paying dividends until the infrastructure is fixed then customer may be prepared to swallow some rise in bills.” For Mr Watson, the Government also has to focus on providing regulators like the Environment Agency and Ofwat with some teeth and the resources to impose the laws that already exist to punish water companies. “The regulatory system has allowed this to happen both from the perspective that these companies have been allowed to be asset stripped by their shareholders and be run for the benefit of effectively making profits, as opposed to providing an essential service, both to people and the environment,” he says.
“The Environment Agency has been systematically defunded, and has had many of its capabilities to monitor polluters, to inspect polluters and to enforce the law just taken away from it after years of austerity. “Until the government is prepared to re-empower and refund the whole regulatory system, we won’t get to the root of the problem. They are just tinkering around the edges.
“Of all the sewage discharged into rivers last year, 3.6 million hours of those were allowed to happen when not in exceptional circumstances. They were illegal.
The water companies were breaking the law. But nobody was there to enforce the law.” Another campaigner who has come to the public’s attention since she issued court proceedings against South West Water earlier this year over spill at her hometown beach of Exmouth in Devon is Jo Bateman.
“Overall, I feel cautiously optimistic about the measures announced,” says Bateman. “But much more detail is needed. “Where will the money come from for the vast infrastructure improvements that are clearly required? This should absolutely not come from increased bills.
” It’s a similar message from Ash Smith, founder of Windrush Against Sewage Pollution, which is campaigning to protect the River Windrush that runs through the Cotwolds. “The Government response to the sewage scandal is confusing,” says Smith. “On one hand it expresses a desire to tackle criminal conduct by water bosses to the extent that it thinks it needs more legislation but fails to address extensive current evidence of widespread corporate greed.
“Billpayers are being forced into a stealth bailout of water companies that neglected investment for years and window dressing legislative proposals pandering to what was polling well, pre-election, appears to be an amateurish approach indicating a lack of quality professional advice.” With a £22bn ‘black hole’ in the public finances to fill, it currently appears unlikely that Labour is going to throw any taxpayer money at the sewage crisis. That begs the question of who will pay for it.
As former Conservative environment minister Ranil Jayawardena told GB News this week, when the choice is putting more money into schools and hospitals or investing in sewers, any government is “going to choose the former”. Defra was contacted for comment..
