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

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, whether his Department (a) monitors and (b) tracks sewage discharge into (i) rivers and (ii) seas by (A) location and (B) water company.

Since 01 January 2025, water companies are required to publish data related to discharges from all storm overflows within one hour of the discharge beginning (under section 141DA of the Water Industry Act 1991 as inserted by section 81 of the Environment Act 2021).

Data must be published in a way that is accessible to the public and in a form that allows the public readily to understand it. This includes providing information on the location and operating water company of each storm overflow. To support this, Water UK have launched a central hub that provides discharge data of every storm overflow in England on a single website.

This has created an unprecedented level of transparency, enabling the public and regulators to see where, and how often, overflows are discharging, and to hold water companies to account.

In addition to this, the Water (Special Measures) Bill will introduce a duty for water companies to publish data related to discharges from all emergency overflows within one hour of the discharge beginning. This will ensure that every sewage discharge outlet is monitored.