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

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, whether he has made an assessment of the potential merits of reviewing the compliance limits set for waste water and sewage effluent being released into rivers and streams in response to the recent fines levied against Southern Water for illegally discharging sewage into rivers and coastal waters.

The investigation and subsequent prosecution of Southern Water focused on unlawful discharges of sewage through the storm system thus bypassing full treatment at Wastewater Treatment Works (WwTW) and discharging to the environment in non-storm conditions. The sites all discharged either directly into, or in close proximity to, designated shellfish waters off the North Kent coast, around the Solent, and Langstone and Chichester Harbours.

During the current water company investment round (2020 - 2025), water companies are required to install overflow operation monitors on storm overflows at around 3500 WwTW, including Southern Water WwTWs, along with Flow Passed Forward Flow monitors. Permits will be reviewed and conditions tightened to afford even greater levels of scrutiny and environmental protection. The data from these monitors will be used to assess compliance with permit Flow Passed Forward Flow limits when overflows operate. As well as ensuring that the required flows are passed forward for full treatment through the WwTW when the overflow operates, the monitors will also be used by the Environment Agency to check that the overflows only operate within permit requirements of rainfall and snowmelt.

The Government is pushing forward in working towards improving the state of the water environment by setting robust and ambitious water quality targets within the Environment Bill. Alongside these targets the Government will consider the policy levers required to meet the targets, including taking further action to tackle sources of water pollution.