New UK sewage dumping targets will allow ‘polluters to continue environmental vandalism for another 26 years’

New government plans for water companies to face legally binding sewage targets have been slammed as “woefully inadequate” by campaigners, who said “time’s up on dawdling”.

Paul de Zylva, campaigner at Friends of the Earth, called on the Environment Secretary to “abandon these plans” after Therese Coffey has “failed to set an overall target for water quality.”

Coffey said the government would legislate for a clear target on sewage discharges, in line with its Storm Overflows Discharge Reduction Plan, which was published in August 2022.

The plan sets out that by 2035, water companies must cut discharges to all designated bathing water and 75% of high priority sites like conservation areas.

It also states that by 2050, no overflows will be permitted to operate outside of unusually heavy rainfall or to cause any adverse ecological harm.

Coffey said: "A clear, credible and costed legally binding target will add to our transparent and determined approach to solve this issue, whilst keeping consumer bills low."

However, Henry Swithinbank, Policy and Research Manager at Surfers Against Sewage, told NationalWorld the targets “will shockingly allow polluters to continue their environmental vandalism for another 26 years”.

He said: “It’s snail pace. Our waters need urgent protection.”

‘The goalposts have moved once again’

Ministers have been under pressure to take tougher action against water firms responsible for sewage discharges.

Last year, sewage was discharged into our waterways over 300,000 times in England, including into bathing water, despite it being one of the warmest and driest years on record.

The issue has been a focus of campaigning ahead of May’s local elections in England, with all parties promising tough measures to tackle sewage dumping.

But the government’s new targets do not go far enough in the eyes of those who have been campaigning to stop sewage pollution for years.

De Zylva said: “While this announcement might seem as though ministers are doing everything they can to resolve things swiftly, we mustn’t forget this is the same government that has weakened our environmental standards, reduced the monitoring of water pollution and made sweeping cuts to the agency responsible for regulating in the first place.

“It seems the goalposts have moved once again. Instead of promising to ensure all rivers and seas are in good condition by 2027, the target has now dropped to only 75%.”

While Swithinbank added: “If the government is serious about tackling the sewage scandal, as they claim to be, we are calling for them to set targets to end sewage discharge into bathing waters by 2030, and to reduce sewage discharges across the UK by 90%, by 2030.

“We need action.”

Megan Corton Scott, political campaigner for Greenpeace UK, said the government is setting targets “for over 25 years in the future” while it is “underfunding and undermining the environmental regulators.”

She added: “We need a minister who is prepared to stand up for the environment and the many people who live, work and holiday besides British beaches and rivers, and demand the funding and resources necessary to fix this sewage crisis once and for all.”

The government has already announced plans for unlimited fines for companies which dump sewage into rivers and seas.

Firms are allowed to discharge untreated sewage in exceptional circumstances for example during heavy rainfall, but they can be acting illegally if they pump sewage into water when the conditions are dry.

The new plans from the government were announced after Labour on Tuesday (25 April) set out its own draft legislation requiring water companies to cut discharges by 90% by the end of 2030 and impose automatic financial penalties for firms which break the rules.

Shadow environment secretary Jim McMahon said his party’s plans "would finally see an end to the Tory sewage scandal".