UK water companies have apologized and laid out a multibillion-pound plan to curb sewage spillage into England’s rivers after months of public outcry, a move that’s likely to hurt customers’ pockets.
(Bloomberg) — UK water companies have apologized and laid out a multibillion-pound plan to curb sewage spillage into England’s rivers after months of public outcry, a move that’s likely to hurt customers’ pockets.
The companies that operate the privatized industry said they would spend an additional £10 billion ($12.4 billion) by the end of the decade on upgrades intended to cut overflows, calling it the “biggest modernization of sewers since the Victorian era.” That’s more than triple the £3.1 billion already earmarked from 2020 to 2025.
“Over time, the way the system works is that there will be modest upward pressure on customer bills over the full lifetime of the asset, so over 50 years or perhaps even longer, maybe up to 100 years,” Ruth Kelly, chair of industry body Water UK, said on BBC on Thursday. “Customers do contribute.”
While the UK’s sewage infrastructure needs to be upgraded, higher bills will add to the burden for households that are already struggling with a cost-of-living crisis. It’s drawn criticism from the GMB union, which said that people shouldn’t be forced to pay for water companies’ mistakes. Environmental campaigner Feargal Sharkey called it just “another outbreak of moral panic,” given the pressure that the firms have been under.
“This is nothing to celebrate,” he said on BBC Radio 4 Today. “What they should be doing is saying ‘we’ve messed this up, we are terribly sorry, we are going to compensate you all £10 billion — it is the least we could do to our customers.”
Regulator Welcomes
The higher spending was, however, welcomed by industry regulator Ofwat, which said that “this now needs to be turned into action.” Philip Dunne, a conservative member of Parliament and chair of the Environmental Audit Committee, called the scale of the planned investment “very welcome, albeit long overdue.”
The sewage system was hit last summer when heavy rainfall after a period of drought led to large-scale — and particularly unpleasant — overflows. While discharges into local waterways are meant to be a measure of last resort, there are concerns that they have become more common. In 2022, 10 water and sewage companies within England released waste matter into rivers and the sea on 301,091 occasions.
Also see: How Much Raw Sewage Is Dumped Around London? Read the Map
The companies have vowed to increase transparency via a new data hub and the publication of a company-by-company overflow plan.
Water UK said its planned investment will cut sewage overflows by up to 140,000 each year compared with 2020 levels if approved by regulators. The companies also pledged to support the rollout and protection of new swimming and recreational areas.
Last summer, popular beaches in places like Sussex and Devon had to close when wastewater reached shorelines. Swimming or boating in water that contains human feces may put people at risk of developing gastrointestinal illnesses, as well as respiratory, skin, eye or ear infections.
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