Plans from the UK water industry to “urgently” tackle the sewage pollution crisis have been delayed by four months, with no publication date in sight, the Guardian can reveal.
Government ministers last year demanded water executives send them a “plan for urgent change” to tackle outflows which spill untreated human waste into rivers and seas.
Last May the water industry representatives, Water UK, issued a mea culpa on behalf of private water companies for their industrial-scale sewage dumping through storm overflows. It then promised to swiftly release a £10bn national overflows plan.
The government and Water UK planned to publish the plans by late summer after requesting them in April.
Newly released documents, revealed after Freedom of Information Act requests submitted by the Good Law Project, show the environment minister Rebecca Pow wrote to water companies asking for action plans which “strike the right balance between speed and affordability and deliverability” and asked them to submit them by 18 August for publication. She added that some water companies had still not provided data for their plans, and had first asked for these plans in April. By August she was still requesting information from water companies.
Dr Lucinda Gilfoyle, the head of environmental strategy at Water UK, also promised last May that there would be a national overflow plan published in the late summer which focuses on how investments will be used to deal with overflows and excess rain water. The plan was projected to cut the number of spills.
It is understood the plans to deal with sewage are unlikely to be published by March, which is when the overflow statistics for the year will be published.
Labour’s shadow environment secretary, Steve Reed MP, said: “This Conservative government has wilfully turned a blind eye to corruption at the heart of the water industry and broken yet another promise.
“The result is stinking, toxic sewage destroying our countryside, and consumers facing higher bills while water bosses pocket millions in bonuses.”
The government also refused to reveal the details of plans which have been submitted by some water companies, stating this was because “there is a stronger public interest in withholding the information because the water companies intend on publishing the information you have requested in the near future. Releasing the information at this stage on an adhoc basis would divert resources away from ongoing work. The water companies need to ensure that it is finalised, quality assured and signed off before publication takes place.”
A spokesperson for the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra) said: “Last year we demanded a clear action plan on every storm overflow from water companies, prioritising those that are spilling at a high level and into bathing waters or high priority nature sites. These have now been received and are being evaluated ahead of publication.”
A Water UK spokesperson said: “Water and sewerage companies have submitted their action plans to Defra. Those plans include proposals to invest £11bn between 2025 and 2030, more than triple the current rate, to cut spills from overflows as quickly as possible.”
