A Government ban on wet wipes has reportedly been proposed by Thames Water as a solution to the problem of sewage being dumped into Britain’s waterways.
Water companies have released raw sewage into UK rivers and seas almost 150 times during dry weather - despite being told to do so only when there is heavy rainfall, according to campaigners.
Analysis by campaign group Surfers Against Sewage (SAS) of discharge alerts and meteorological data shows so-called "dry spills" occurred at least 146 times "at a conservative estimate" during times there was no rain recorded, between October last year and September.
Wet wipes have been blamed by water companies for blocking sewers and being partly responsible for the spills which should only happen during times of exceptional rainfall to help systems cope.
And now the UK’s biggest water company, Thames Water is calling for a ban on wet wipes, and their plea has been backed to varying degrees by Anglian Water, Northumbrian, Severn Trent and Welsh Water, it is reported.
Letters were sent to Ranil Jayawardena, the environment secretary under Liz Truss urging him to stop the use of wet wipes, reported The Times.
Water UK says wet wipes cause 90% of sewer blockages which make the spills more likely.
Sarah Bentley, of Thames Water, told The Times: “Government could significantly reduce pollution risk, preferably by introducing a ban for wet wipes or, at a minimum, a ban for those that do not meet the sector’s Fine to Flush standard.”
Peter Simpson, the chief executive of Anglian Water, also backed a ban.
“Whilst implementing bans should always be a last resort, we also believe the time has come to enforce a complete ban on the sale of wet wipes that do not adhere to Fine to Flush standards," he reportedly said.
A Water UK spokesman said over the problem of sewage being dumped into waterways: "Companies agree there is an urgent need to tackle storm overflows. They are set to launch one of the country's largest ever infrastructure programmes, which, if approved by regulators, will deliver £56 billion of improvements for our rivers and seas.
"That builds on at least £3 billion of improvements in the last couple of years alone.
"To accelerate progress further, we need Government to end housing developers' uncontrolled connections to sewers without first knowing their capacity, and to end the flushing of wet wipes made from materials that cause blockages and fatbergs.
"Both are major causes of sewer overloading and spills. We also need Government to implement existing legislation in order to increase the use of sustainable drainage systems on new developments as a means of reducing the volume of rainwater entering the sewer system."
Environmental charity Thames21 has said that volunteers have removed around 64,000 wet wipes from parts of the Thames over the past five years.
Debbie Leach, CEO of Thames21, said: “We are no longer shocked that we keep on pulling these wet wipes out of the Thames foreshore. However, the huge number our volunteers have pulled out over this five-year period is staggering and shows the urgency of the problem.
“Wet wipes made with plastic are contaminating our rivers. They are building up in large numbers on the River Thames foreshore, and the plastic is potentially devastating to wildlife in the river.
