Sewage: Waste Disposal
The question
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what steps her Department is taking to provide better access to historic data on sewage discharges.
Answered by Emma Hardy
The Government is improving public access to information on sewage discharges.
Since Event Duration Monitoring (EDM) was introduced in 2015, water companies have progressively installed monitors on storm overflows. Coverage increased over time and reached 100% of storm overflows in England by the end of 2023. The Environment Agency has published annual EDM data on storm overflow spills since 2020, providing both national statistics and site level information.
To strengthen transparency further, the Environment Agency publishes water quality and effluent data through its online Water Quality Explorer. As part of the Water (Special Measures) Act 2025, EDM data will be incorporated into this platform, enabling sewage discharge information to be accessed in a single place.
The Water (Special Measures) Act 2025 also requires water companies to install EDM monitors at 50% of emergency overflows by 2030 and at 100% by 2035. Discharges must be reported within one hour of the initial spill, with data subject to independent scrutiny by the water regulators.
Historic information prior to EDM installation is more limited and was not collected consistently. Available datasets continue to be published where they exist to support transparency and public scrutiny.
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