Sewage activist ‘doubts’ UK water companies will face unlimited fines as firms repeatedly ‘stay protected’

An activist “doubts” water firms releasing raw sewage into UK rivers and seas will face unlimited fines as “time and time again the water companies stay protected”.

Underwater filmmaker at Beneath British Waters, Mark Barrow, said “sadly we see a lot of spoken words but very little action”.

It comes as the government confirmed that the current limit of £250,000 on monetary penalties will be scrapped after a consultation received widespread public support from 105 responses.

The government pledged that “polluters must always pay” and the money raised from the fines will be channelled into a fund to restore rivers, rather than going to the Treasury as it previously did.

It will allow the Environment Agency and Natural England to impose heavy penalties without having to go through lengthy court proceedings.

However, Mr Barrow who films the amount of raw waste in UK rivers, told NationalWorld that he “doubts” the unlimited fines will “actually be imposed”.

He said: “The facts are the Department for Environment Food and Rural Affairs (Defra) is just not taking the river sewage scandal seriously, it has proven that by the moving of goal posts to apply for bathing water. Time and time again the water companies stay protected and pollution remains profitable.

“Sadly we see a lot of spoken words but very little action and when you look at what France is doing with the River Seine you just realise we are backwards in our way of thinking.”

France committed to making the once-polluted Parisian river safe to swim in, in time for the next Olympic games in 2024, pouring €1.4 billion (£1.2 billion) into solving its pollution problem.

Northern Irish singer Feargal Sharkey, who has become a figurehead in the fight to stop water companies discharging sewage into UK rivers, tweeted: "What a contrast".

He wrote: "Paris spends €1bn to clean up the Seine so people can go swimming in it, while last year alone Thames Water spent 7,000 hours dumping sewage into 31 of London’s rivers, all of which ends up in the Thames.”

Thérèse Coffey, the Environment Secretary, said: “We are scrapping the cap on civil penalties and significantly broadening their scope to target a much wider range of offences — from breaches of storm overflow permits to the reckless disposal of hazardous waste.

“Polluters must always pay. It builds on action being taken right across government to stand up for our environment – tackling pollution, protecting delicate ecosystems and enhancing nature.”

On today’s announcement Sharkey tweeted that Defra has announced “for the billionth time they are going to announce a consultation about possibly, maybe, bringing in unlimited fines for water companies.”

He added: “Obviously nothing to do with trying to deflect from today’s Thames Water hearing in parliament.”

Mr Barrow also added that it is a “coincidence it is on the same day Thames Water has a hearing in Parliament.”

In an Environment, Food and Rural Affairs Committee on Wednesday (12 July), the new interim CEO of Thames Water has refused to apologise after MPs accused her of being responsible for putting the firm on the brink of collapse.

Labour MP Darren Jones demanded an apology from Cathryn Ross, the former CEO of water regulator Ofwat, for “facilitating” the crisis Thames Water faces and putting taxpayers “on the hook” to pay for its failures.

He said she allowed the Australian investment bank Macquarie to ramp up Thames Water’s debt “from three to ten billion pounds while taking out nearly three billion in dividends” which he said ultimately caused the crisis the company now faces.

Ross responded that she didn’t “accept that characterisation of Ofwat’s price control in 2014” and Thames Water is “a long way off that insolvency trigger and conditions of a special administration regime (SAR) being made.”

The Labour MP pressed Ross for an apology to the taxpayers “for potentially putting them in this position” exposing “taxpayers to billions of pounds” but Ross refused to apologise for her role.