Government breached law by allowing water firms to discharge sewage, watchdog finds
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The regulator has sent a notice to each of the authorities setting out steps it wants to see taken to put the situation right. The government and regulators breached the law by allowing water firms to discharge sewage, a watchdog has ruled. The Office for Environmental Protection said the Environment Department (Defra), the Environment Agency (EA) and Ofwat failed to comply with environmental law over regulating discharges from combined sewer overflows (CSO) into England’s rivers and seas.
![[A coot feeds in the sewage polluted waters of the River Colne, near Maple Cross, Herts]](https://static.independent.co.uk/2024/03/27/18/2024-03-27T125803Z_230751485_RC29U6ACWT93_RTRMADP_3_BRITAIN-SEWAGE.JPG)
These outlets from the sewerage and drainage network are only supposed to be used in exceptional circumstances such as periods of unusually heavy rain to prevent the system backing up and flooding people’s homes and businesses with sewage. But an investigation by the Office for Environmental Protection (OEP) found that Defra and the regulators failed to provide guidance, permits and enforcement for the use of CSOs in line with the law.
![[Liberal Democrat leader Ed Davey by the Hogsmill River in Berrylands, southwest London]](https://static.independent.co.uk/2024/03/27/16/c279e1e3-f2a3-4121-8cda-b4ef2754c6ca.jpg)
The announcement comes amid widespread public anger over the degraded state of England’s rivers, lakes and coastal waters, which are beset with pollution from several sources including sewage, agricultural run-off and chemical pollutants. Campaigners who lodged the original complaint with the watchdog said the ruling showed much of the pollution “plaguing English rivers” would not be occurring if the government and regulators had done their job.
