Combined Sewer Overflows Debate
Full Debate: Read Full DebateDepartment: Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs
Richard Foord
Main Page: Richard Foord (Liberal Democrat - Tiverton and Honiton)Department Debates - View all Richard Foord's debates with the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs
Combined Sewer Overflows
Richard Foord Excerpts(8 months ago)
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Richard Foord (Tiverton and Honiton) (LD)
19 July last year was the hottest day on record in the UK. Temperatures exceeded 40°C in some places during a dry spell, yet water companies that responded to a BBC investigation admitted to so-called “dry spills” of sewage that day. The Environment Secretary was reported as saying that it “does seem extraordinary”, but that the Environment Agency “is the regulator”. Given that it was the hottest day, when people were inadvertently bathing in sewage, why does the Environment Secretary wash her hands of it?
Dr Coffey
I am conscious of the investigation that the BBC undertook. The Environment Agency and the Department do not agree with its assessment of the data. That does not mean, of course, that there have not been sewage spills on dry days. That is why it is part of the investigation. It is part of fixing the problem, and we will continue to do that.