Craig Wood
Senior Member
Taxpayers fined for water firms’ beach pollution
Jon Ungoed-Thomas Published: 21 October 2012
PrintTAXPAYERS face fines of tens of millions of pounds because privatised water companies are blighting Britain’s beaches and rivers with raw sewage.
The European Court of Justice agreed with campaigners last week that Britain had breached a waste water directive because its sewerage system became overwhelmed in wet weather, polluting beaches and waterways.
There was anger that taxpayers will have to foot the bill for the failures of the country’s water companies, which have made billions of pounds in profits since the directive was introduced in 1991. Their deadline to fix the problem was December 2000.
The court’s ruling comes after The Sunday Times exposed the pollution on some of the country’s finest beaches from overflows. A fine has yet to be decided.
Although the government is liable for the fines, it will want the water companies to invest in upgrading schemes to ensure the directive is met in future.
Andy Cummins, of Surfers Against Sewage, said: “This ruling will send shock waves around the UK water industry, highlighting the overuse of overflows as a means to discharge untreated sewage onto beaches and into rivers.â€
Judges ruled that Britain had breached the 1991 directive on treating waste water by dumping raw sewage into the River Thames and at Whitburn, South Tyneside.
The decision is a triumph for Bob Latimer, a Whitburn resident who has campaigned for years over sewage pollution on the seafront.
“Government agencies have refused to answer my questions but we have made sure the water companies have been held to account,†he said.
The companies involved, Thames Water and Northumbrian Water, say they are investing hundreds of millions of pounds in upgrading the sewer network. Thames is building a £4 billion “super sewer†to stop raw sewage polluting the Thames. About 39m tons a year enters the river from 57 overflows.
Robert Keirle, of the Marine Conservation Society, said: “UK taxpayers are going to have to pay for the mistakes of Thames Water and Northumbria Water. This is a wake-up call for the industry to check the state of their sewage overflows.â€
The ruling will be used to force other water companies to act. The Environment Agency says coastal overflows should, on average, operate only three times in each bathing season. They often operate more frequently.
Surfers Against Sewage said beaches hit by regular overflow included Weston-super-Mare in Somerset, Sandbanks in Dorset and Godrevy beach in north Cornwall.
The Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs said £18.5 billion had been spent on water quality since privatisation in 1989.
It makes you think then when we had those big floods years ago how much sewage and other chemicals went into the rivers, and more important what affect its had on all fish..The point is, it was surfers who found out what was going on, as this happened last year when we had all that rain, so how many other times has this been happening???..
Jon Ungoed-Thomas Published: 21 October 2012
PrintTAXPAYERS face fines of tens of millions of pounds because privatised water companies are blighting Britain’s beaches and rivers with raw sewage.
The European Court of Justice agreed with campaigners last week that Britain had breached a waste water directive because its sewerage system became overwhelmed in wet weather, polluting beaches and waterways.
There was anger that taxpayers will have to foot the bill for the failures of the country’s water companies, which have made billions of pounds in profits since the directive was introduced in 1991. Their deadline to fix the problem was December 2000.
The court’s ruling comes after The Sunday Times exposed the pollution on some of the country’s finest beaches from overflows. A fine has yet to be decided.
Although the government is liable for the fines, it will want the water companies to invest in upgrading schemes to ensure the directive is met in future.
Andy Cummins, of Surfers Against Sewage, said: “This ruling will send shock waves around the UK water industry, highlighting the overuse of overflows as a means to discharge untreated sewage onto beaches and into rivers.â€
Judges ruled that Britain had breached the 1991 directive on treating waste water by dumping raw sewage into the River Thames and at Whitburn, South Tyneside.
The decision is a triumph for Bob Latimer, a Whitburn resident who has campaigned for years over sewage pollution on the seafront.
“Government agencies have refused to answer my questions but we have made sure the water companies have been held to account,†he said.
The companies involved, Thames Water and Northumbrian Water, say they are investing hundreds of millions of pounds in upgrading the sewer network. Thames is building a £4 billion “super sewer†to stop raw sewage polluting the Thames. About 39m tons a year enters the river from 57 overflows.
Robert Keirle, of the Marine Conservation Society, said: “UK taxpayers are going to have to pay for the mistakes of Thames Water and Northumbria Water. This is a wake-up call for the industry to check the state of their sewage overflows.â€
The ruling will be used to force other water companies to act. The Environment Agency says coastal overflows should, on average, operate only three times in each bathing season. They often operate more frequently.
Surfers Against Sewage said beaches hit by regular overflow included Weston-super-Mare in Somerset, Sandbanks in Dorset and Godrevy beach in north Cornwall.
The Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs said £18.5 billion had been spent on water quality since privatisation in 1989.
It makes you think then when we had those big floods years ago how much sewage and other chemicals went into the rivers, and more important what affect its had on all fish..The point is, it was surfers who found out what was going on, as this happened last year when we had all that rain, so how many other times has this been happening???..
