Dr Neil Hudson MP for Penrith and The Border has warmly welcomed the next step in the Government’s plan to reduce harm from storm overflows: the launch of a public consultation on the Government’s Storm Overflows Discharge Reduction Plan.
The Storm Overflows Discharge Reduction Plan is the Government’s plan to ensure water companies significantly reduce the number of discharges of untreated sewage, making this Government the first to inform water companies they must act to do so.
The consultation sets out the specific measures of the Reduction Plan, mandating water companies completely eliminate all harms to the environment from sewage discharge, and introducing strict limits on when storm overflows can be used. It also lays out how the Environment Agency and Ofwat, the water regulator, can enforce action against companies not fulfilling their legal duties, through a new monitoring and reporting framework.
Under the proposed Storm Overflows Discharge Reduction Plan:
• By 2035, the environmental impacts of 3,000 storm overflows (75%) affecting our most important protected sites will have been eliminated;
• By 2035, there will be 70% fewer discharges into bathing waters – (using last years figures that would have equated to 4,620 fewer discharges into our bathing waters during the bathing season;)
• By 2040, approximately 160,000 discharges, on average, will have been eliminated (40% of the total); and by 2050, approximately 320,000 discharges, on average, will have been eliminated (80% of the total).
Dr Hudson has long-supported legal requirements for the Government and water companies to reduce storm overflows, supporting a Private Members Bill by Phillip Dunne MP in March 2021 to do this. The Government subsequently implemented these aims in its Environment Act 2021. This mandated the Government to publish a plan to reduce storm overflows and update Parliament on their progress in implementing it. Likewise, water companies are now required to publish their data on storm overflows annually as a result.
The consultation on the Storm Overflows Discharge Reduction Plan is open for six weeks, and can be completed here: https://consult.defra.gov.uk/water-industry/storm-overflows-discharge-reduction-plan/consultation/subpage.2022-03-30.7966288936/
Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs George Eustice said: “We are the first government to set out our expectation that water companies must take steps to significantly reduce storm overflows. We are setting specific targets to ensure that those storm overflows are used only in exceptional circumstances – delivering on our Environment Act and building on wider work on water quality.”
Dr Neil Hudson MP commented: “I welcome the consultation on the Storm Overflows Discharge Reduction Plan. This is a concrete step to ensuring we tackle the sewage discharge that all too often pollutes our precious waterways and seas. I hope this sends a clear signal to water companies that when this Government says that they must act to reduce harms from storm overflows, it means it. Sadly, the Lib Dems and their neighbouring MP have been pumping out deliberately alarmist and inaccurate information about sewage in my constituency. When people are crying out for honesty and integrity in politics it is sad to see political opponents sinking to this level. In fact, the Conservative Government is tackling the problem of sewage in rivers with tough, effective and affordable measures. The amendments suggested by the opposition were completely unaffordable and unworkable.”
