The EU previously acted as a watchdog on sewage pollution
Sewage spills considered illegal by the European Union are getting worse in Britain after Brexit, The i Paper has found. union valve
The EU previously acted as a watchdog on water pollution that could impose fines of millions a week if rules were not being followed.
However, the regulator that replaced its role in Britain – the Office for Environmental Protection – does not have the same powers, according to experts.
The bloc has also taken steps to strengthen its wastewater laws as the UK lags behind, analysts said.
The Liberal Democrats said water regulation was “yet another casualty” of the previous Conservative government’s “botched” Brexit.
Robert Latimer, a retired fisherman from Sunderland who monitors pollution in his local area, said that significant sewage issues are being ignored since Brexit.
Mr Latimer, 80, and other residents say the spills have left beaches littered with period products, wet wipes and raw sewage.
The European Commission, the EU’s executive arm that proposes laws and makes sure they’re applied, threatened fines in 2019 – the year before Brexit.
This came after the UK failed to comply with a 2012 European court of justice (CJEU) ruling that raw sewage discharged by Northumbrian Water from an outflow in Whitburn broke EU water treatment laws.
But this year, the European Commission wrote to Mr Latimer to say it was closing the case because of Brexit – even though wastewater spills “remain too elevated”.
And now, with the new Government ramping up housebuilding, Mr Latimer fears the problem could get even worse.
More than 800 new homes have been proposed in the area that would be served by the existing Whitburn pumping station rather than accompanied by extra water infrastructure.
“We’re just ignoring what was a little sewerage system that was built for a little village,” Mr Latimer said. “All these houses are being built with no infrastructure provided to go with them.”
The European Commission investigated water pollution from the Whitburn pumping station into the sea after it first received a complaint led by Mr Latimer in 2012.
In its ruling, the CJEU raised concerns about the raw sewage released by Northumbrian Water between 2002 and 2004, which ranged from 56 to 91 spills per year – amounting to 359,640 to 529,290 cubic metres.
The court said the collecting system was still not compliant with EU law, particularly “given the close vicinity of the bathing waters in Whitburn” and complaints received by the Commission about “debris on the beaches around Whitburn”.
The quantity of sewage released by the pumping station into the North Sea has since doubled to more than one million cubic metres last year, according to data from Northumbrian Water shared with The i Paper and obtained by an environmental information regulations request.
The EU had recommended that spills should not exceed 20 per year.
At Whitburn pumping station, there were 31 spills last year, according to analysis by Surfers Against Sewage and The Wildlife Trusts.
Mr Latimer said he is frustrated that the case was dropped by the EU and by UK regulators’ inability to stop the spills.
The Office for Environmental Protection, a watchdog implemented to replace the environmental protection functions of the EU, said it is not specifically investigating Mr Latimer’s complaint but the issue is covered as part of a broader investigation.
In a letter to Mr Latimer in September 2023, it said that the Environment Secretary’s office, the Environment Agency and Ofwat may have breached environmental laws. Their investigation continues.
Ofwat, the water regulator, said it found numerous “failures” by Northumbrian Water, including at Whitburn, and launched a consultation on their proposal to fine the company about £17m.
Alison Pake, a partially retired IT consultant who has lived in Roker, Sunderland, for most of her life, remembers what the beaches in the area were like when she was a child.
They smelled clean and rock pools were teeming with crabs, sea urchins and starfish, she recalled. Over the years, she said she has seen a decline in marine life and the water quality.
“I used to swim quite regularly down at Roker in the Roker bay, but one day I felt something on my face, and when I turned it was a colonoscopy bag,” she said. “I’ve never swam back in there since without wearing a wetsuit and full gear. It’s just really sad.”
Ms Pake has stopped going into the water in some areas because of the pollution.
A grey foam can be sometimes seen on the surface of the water at Whitburn beach, she said.
“You can always tell when they’ve released sewage,” she said. “The beach is a bit smelly and there’s always stuff lying around. It’s terrible. The council’s tried to keep the beaches as clean as they can, but they’re in a losing battle.”
She said “high volumes” of sanitary products and wet wipes wash up on the beach.
Ms Pake said she and other residents feel angry that Northumbrian Water keeps making profits while sewage spills get worse.
Northumbrian Water, which is owned by Hong Kong-based company CK Hutchison Holdings and US private equity firm KKR, reported a pre-tax profit of £6.1m in the year to March 2024.
Dividends of £108m were paid to its owners in the year to March, up from £105m the previous year, and an extra final payout of £37.4m was proposed.
Ms Pake said she expected things to get worse if more homes are added to the same sewage system and fears for the safety of swimmers, particularly children.
Dozens of competitors in the World Triathlon Championship series last year fell ill with norovirus at the UK leg in Roker.
An investigation by the UK Health Security Agency, launched after almost 90 people reported symptoms of diarrhoea and vomiting, said they were likely infected during an open-water swimming event.
Northumbrian Water said its investigations had shown “there had been no discharges from any of our assets that might negatively impact water quality” at Roker.
Michael Nicholson, executive director of the Institute for European Environmental Policy UK, said the EU was previously a powerful environmental watchdog.
“They were very good at putting pressure on member states like the UK to put in place robust systems,” he said.
The CJEU’s ruling in 2012 also looked at sewage spills in London and resulted in the UK government building the £4.5bn Thames Tideway Tunnel to capture almost all the raw sewage and rainwater that currently overflows into the Thames Estuary. Its completion is expected next year.
“They have an enormous amount of influence over what happens in the member states, and you could argue that now we don’t have that,” Mr Nicholson said.
EU fines for the pollution at Whitburn could have been substantial. Six-figure daily fines as well as lump sums that run into tens of millions tend to be common in similar cases.
Countries that have been fined for breaching wastewater treatment laws include Italy, which has paid €142m so far, while Spain and Greece have each paid about €90m and €68m to date.
Mr Nicholson said the Office for Environmental Protection has a lot of powers but it cannot fine public bodies or the government.
He said the OEP’s enforcement processes should be sped up and “can understandably lead to frustration by the public when pollution appears to go on unabated”.
Since the UK left the EU, the bloc has implemented a tighter and more demanding piece of legislation to tackle the collection and treatment of wastewater, he said.
This includes tougher rules around medicinal and cosmetic products for producers and sellers to keep them from entering water systems. Meanwhile, the UK is “struggling to meet existing wastewater legislation”, Mr Nicholson said.
Ruth Chambers, a senior fellow at the Green Alliance think-tank, said the Office for Environmental Protection has been acting where there are clear legal breaches “but that doesn’t mean that the water pollution that the residents are experiencing couldn’t and shouldn’t be sorted out a lot quicker”.
Ms Chambers said “chronic underinvestment” in the sewage system and its regulators has created problems, adding: “Undoubtedly, the laws haven’t been enforced effectively because of that, and they certainly could be stronger and clearer.”
Tim Farron, the Liberal Democrats’ environment spokesperson, said: “Water regulation is yet another casualty of the Conservatives’ botched Brexit deal.”
He said the Brexit deal “seems to prevent us now from having the toughest possible regulation to hold water companies accountable”.
Mr Farron called for Ofwat to be replaced with a new, more “robust” regulator with powers to stop sewage spills, adding: “We must ensure water companies clean up their act.”
Northumbrian Water said it has “some of the lowest amounts and durations of spills in the country” and “one of the best environmental records of any water company in England, with no serious pollution incidents throughout the whole of 2023, or any since 2021”.
A spokesperson said they have made “huge investments” to improve bathing waters across the North East, including tens of millions of pounds to upgrade the sewer network in the Sunderland, Whitburn and Roker areas. Investments on upgrades to stop spills amount to over £80m between 2020 and 2025 and another £1.7bn from 2025 to 2030, they said.
The firm said 33 of its 35 bathing waters in the North East are rated as ‘Excellent’ or ‘Good’ in the latest Defra classifications, and the beaches at Whitburn and Roker have achieved ‘Excellent’ status every year since the guidelines were introduced.
Helen Venn, the Office for Environmental Protection’s chief regulatory officer, said there is no specific investigation into Mr Latimer’s complaint “as the issues raised at that site are covered at a more strategic level in our ongoing investigation into the regulation of combined sewage overflows”.
She said the investigation “identified possible failures to comply with environmental law” by the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra), the Environment Agency and Ofwat and the OEP has issued them with Information Notices.
The OEP is continuing its “ongoing engagement with them in order to seek resolution of the issues”, she said.
She said they have the power to run investigations and hold government and public authorities to account via the courts, which are able to fine them.
Ms Venn added: “We share people’s desire to see the quality of our water improve; however, there are no quick fixes. It takes time to investigate such a complex issue.”
An Ofwat spokesperson said it has “uncovered a series of failures” by Northumbrian Water in how they ran their sewage works and networks, including at Whitburn, as part of an ongoing investigation into all water companies.
The watchdog said a consultation was published in August 2024 with proposals for enforcement action against the company, which “signal both the severity of the failings and our determination to take action”. Ofwat are now considering the responses to that consultation to make a final decision.
The regulator said a new price control that starts next April aims to reduce spills from sewage overflows 44 per cent by 2030 compared with 2021 levels.
An Environment Agency spokesperson said there has been a “significant reduction in spills from Whitburn pumping station since the sewerage improvement scheme was completed in December 2017 – which the Environment Agency played an active role in”.
They said it is carrying out its largest-ever criminal investigation into “potential widespread non-compliance by water companies”, recruiting up to 500 additional staff, increasing compliance checks and quadrupling the number of water company inspections by March next year.
South Tyneside Council and Sunderland City Council said they are “aware of Ofwat’s proposal to issue an enforcement order and impose a financial penalty on Northumbrian Water”, adding: “We await the final report before we are able to fully consider the implications for those applications referred to which have not yet been formally granted planning permission.”
A Defra spokesperson said its Water Bill will strengthen regulation including new powers to ban the payment of bonuses for polluting water bosses and bring criminal charges against persistent law breakers. A commission to review the water sector regulatory system will shape further legislation to clean up rivers, lakes and seas for good, they added.
#1. RIVER HEALTH: 77% rivers in good health by 2027
Current situation: England’s rivers were once havens of biodiversity, but the vast majority are now struggling to support healthy ecosystems of plants and wildlife. Just 14 per cent of rivers in England are currently in good ecological health and not a single river has achieved good chemical health. The Government has set a legal target that 77 per cent will achieve good ecological status by 2027 – but without urgent action this will not happen.
Target: Within its first six months in power, the new Government will publish a roadmap on how it is going to achieve this existing legal target, and its long-awaited chemical strategy. The plan must include increased funding for the Environment Agency so the watchdog can do its job – and enforce the law.
#2. SEWAGE: Sewage spills will not damage high-priority areas – including bathing spots and nature sites – by 2030
Current situation: Bathing waters and nature sites are being destroyed by sewage spills, but water companies will not be required to clean up all these spaces until 2045.
Target: Untreated sewage will not cause damage to high-priority sites (which are bathing spots, protected nature sites, National Parks and chalk streams) by 2030. Water companies who fail to meet this target will be prosecuted. Nature-based solutions will be used to clean up sewage wherever possible.
#3. WATCHDOG: Regulators will stop water companies destroying the environment in pursuit of profit
Current situation: Water companies have paid their investors healthy dividends while failing to invest enough in their infrastructure to prevent environmental harm. This is partly caused by a disjointed regulatory system that prioritises economic outcomes over the environment.
Target: Within its first year in power, the new Government will publish a plan to reform regulation of water companies. This plan must be legislated on and executed within the first term of Parliament. This will include tougher powers to restrict dividends and bonuses for underperforming water companies, alongside greater resources to pursue prosecution. A “green duty” will be placed on Ofwat, which will force the regulator to place greater emphasis on the environment when making decisions over water companies’ business plans.
#4. BATHING: Create 100 clean bathing spots in rivers by 2030
Current situation: People in the UK have discovered the joy of wild swimming. But there are only 15 official bathing spots in English rivers, and many are not safe.
Target: 100 bathing spots in English rivers by the end of the new parliamentary term. The Environment Agency must start monitoring water quality throughout the year and take action to improve water quality at these sites. Bathing regulations will be altered so polluters can be prosecuted when bathing sites fail water quality tests.
#5. FARMING: Farmers must be funded to improve water quality, and face enforcement action if they damage the environment
Current situation: Agriculture is the biggest source of pollution in many rivers, but many farmers warn they are struggling to make ends meet under post-Brexit farming subsidies. Meanwhile, the Environment Agency is failing to enforce farming water-quality regulations.
Target: Within its first year in power, the new Government will strengthen its Environmental Land Management scheme so farmers are given more grants, support and advice to undertake activities that will improve water quality. The Environment Agency will commit to a year-on-year increase in the number of farms being inspected – and take enforcement action against those who commit breaches of the “farming rules for water”.
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