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

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what progress he has made on reducing the harm caused by sewage spilling into rivers and offshore water bodies; and on how many occasions he has met with the Chair of the Environmental Audit Committee to progress that work since 22 January 2021.

Tackling the harm caused by sewer overflows is a top priority for this Department.

Since the privatisation of water companies, around £25 billion has been invested to reduce pollution from sewage, covering improvements in sewage treatment and in sewer overflows.

During periods of significant rainfall untreated sewage diluted by rainwater will discharge through storm overflows to avoid streets, premises and sewage treatment plants from being flooded. Water companies are committed in the 5-year business planning period (2020-2025) to a significant programme of improvements to the monitoring and management of storm overflows at a cost of around £1.1 billion. This investment includes undertaking 800 investigations and 798 improvement schemes to provide environmental improvements by reducing spills from frequently spilling overflows.

There is more to do to manage sewage pollution. To achieve this, we have set up a new Taskforce - bringing together Government, the water industry, regulators and environmental NGOs - which has agreed to set a long-term goal to eliminate harm from storm overflows. The Taskforce is now working on plans to start making progress towards that goal, and they have commissioned research to gather evidence on the costs, benefits and feasibility of different options.

Water companies are currently producing comprehensive Drainage and Wastewater Management Plans to assess the capacity of their wastewater networks. We are also taking steps through the Environment Bill to require water companies to produce such Plans on a statutory basis. These plans will be another tool to help address the risks that storm overflows pose to the environment.

I met the Chair of the Environmental Audit Committee on the date of the latest Storm Overflows Taskforce announcement on 22 January 2021 and have had subsequent conversations with him on this issue. Officials are working with the Chair on how we can accelerate progress in reducing the frequency and harm caused by sewage discharges from storm overflows.