Sewage: Health Hazards

For too long, water companies have discharged record levels of sewage into our rivers, lakes and seas. The Government is committed to holding water companies to account. The Water (Special Measures) Bill will drive meaningful improvements in the performance and culture of the water industry as a first important step in enabling wider, transformative change across the water sector.

The Storm Overflow Discharge Reduction Plan sets the stretching public health target that water companies must significantly reduce harmful pathogens from storm overflows discharging near designated bathing waters to meet Environment Agency (EA) spill standards by 2035. To support this, as part of one of the most ambitious investment cycles since privatisation, investment is going in to improving storm overflows to reduce spills prioritising those affecting the most sensitive sites, including bathing waters.

Furthermore, during the bathing water season, designated sites benefit from water quality monitoring by the Environment Agency, enabling the public to make informed decisions about where to swim: Swimfo bathing waters website

Throughout the bathing season, the EA also makes daily pollution risk forecasts for a number of bathing waters where water quality may be temporarily reduced, notifying bathers of these changes.