Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, whether she has had recent discussions with the Environment Agency on taking steps to prevent developers from misconnecting pipes in new homes and causing the leakage of sewage into waterways.

Government is working with the Environment Agency and other regulators to hold the water industry to account. Ministers meet with Environment Agency to discuss a range of issues including sewage pollution on a regular basis.

In August 2022 the most ambitious plan to reduce sewage discharges from storm overflows in water company history was launched. There should be no doubt about the Government’s ambition and determination to prioritise storm overflows and sewage discharges.

The review for making sustainable drainage systems mandatory in new developments was published on 10 January 2023. Government will now look at how best to implement it, through Schedule 3 to the Flood and Water Management Act 2010. This will make the right to connect surface water to public sewers conditional on the drainage system being approved.