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The Environment Agency for England and Wales sought to quell public anger over sewage pollution on Tuesday by allocating £11mn collected in fines against water companies to environmental restoration projects.
Community action groups, farmers and landowners will be allowed to apply for cash from a new Water Restoration Fund to invest in local water projects, said environment secretary Steve Barclay.
The announcement by the regulator was condemned by green campaign groups as being too small to make any meaningful difference to the degradation of water quality across the UK.
“This is a drop in the sewage-filled rivers and ocean,” said Nick Measham, chief executive of campaign group WildFish. “The size of the fund is minuscule when compared to the gallons of effluent pouring into our rivers and coastal waters, all at a risk to people and environment.”
Cat Hobbs, director of We Own It, which campaigns for public ownership of water companies, said the “£11mn is around 0.02 per cent of what’s needed”, referring to the £60bn of investment that water companies claim is required. “This policy does nothing to end a situation where privatised operators can profit from pollution.”
The announcement comes as water companies face the biggest protests mounted since the industry was privatised 35 years ago. On Monday, campaigners including music star turned environmentalist Feargal Sharkey held a demonstration against sewage releases by the stock market-listed United Utilities at Windermere in the Lake District, a natural beauty spot in North West England.
Water companies are increasingly coming under fire for loading themselves with debt while paying out lucrative dividends to shareholders and pay to executives, but not investing sufficiently in vital infrastructure.
The industry has asked Ofwat, the water industry watchdog, to approve an increase in household bills by as much as 70 per cent by 2030 as companies seek to ease their debt burden and respond to pressure to invest in pipe and sewage networks. A draft ruling is expected by Ofwat in June.
The cash for the EA’s new fund comes from £11mn in fines for sewage pollution incidents collected since 2022 from five companies: South West Water, Thames Water, United Utilities, Anglian Water and Yorkshire Water.
Last month, the EA revealed that companies pumped raw sewage into British rivers and seas for a record 3.6mn hours last year, more than double than in 2022.
The figures reflected the fact this is the first year that all the storm overflow pipes, which dump untreated effluent and storm water in to the sea, have been fitted with new technology to monitor the frequency — though not the duration — of spills.
The issue of sewage pollution is likely to rank high among voters’ concerns in the general election expected this year. The Liberal Democrats have called on the government to convene an urgent meeting to assess the impact of water effluent on public health.
Barclay said: “Through the Water Restoration Fund, I will be making sure that money from fines and penalties — taken from water company profits only — is channelled directly back into our waterways.”
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