Britain's dirty water problem will not wash away

Perfect storm

A combination of factors such as decaying infrastructure, the financial crisis piling more pressure on debt-laden companies, extreme weather conditions, and a government preoccupied first by Britain's departure from the European Union and then the pandemic have created a perfect storm for the industry.

At the same time, bills charged by the privatized water companies continue to rise, and all over the country, beaches have been closed and swimmers forced out of rivers because of pollution, mainly from sewage discharges. A problem that has been building up for years has now literally come to the surface in the most visible way, causing environmental damage and health concerns.

According to figures quoted by the House of Lords, in 2019 the Environment Agency, or EA, reported that just 14 percent of rivers in England had a good ecological status, and none had a good chemical status.

In 2022, the House of Commons Environmental Audit Committee concluded that "rivers in England are in a mess", highlighting what it called a "chemical cocktail of sewage, agricultural waste and plastic … polluting the water of many of the country's rivers", and saying that "a step change in regulatory action, water company investment … is urgently required to restore rivers to good ecological health".

Data published by the EA in March 2024 showed untreated sewage discharges by water companies into England's rivers rose from 1.8 million hours in 2022 to 3.6 million hours in 2023, and the number of individual spill incidents rose from 301,000 to 464,000.

"For the nation to have cleaner rivers and seas, water companies must take responsibility to understand the root cause of their problems," said EA Chair Alan Lovell.

A survey by radio station LBC in October 2024 took samples from one section of Britain's longest river, the Severn, near a sewage works in the area covered by the Severn Trent Water company.

It found phosphate levels six times higher than the upper limit set by the EA, and ammonia at twice the level at which water wildlife damage occurs.

For E. Coli bacteria, however, the levels were almost 55 times higher than what is deemed to be poor quality bathing water.

Another survey, carried out across the UK in September by research group Earthwatch, found significant traces of chemicals and stimulants including caffeine, antidepressants and painkillers in river water.

This, Earthwatch's head of policy Sasha Woods told the Guardian newpaper, "shows either that sewage effluent is not being cleaned properly by water companies ... or that too much raw sewage is going into rivers, or both of those things."

A new government may mean a fresh start, but as Portes said, change takes time.

"It's a basic test of competence for the new government to say 'we will not be like the last lot', and to make sure that the rivers and seas aren't full of things that shouldn't be there, but none of these things are easy, and they all take time and money," he explained.

In a world of such competing political priorities, he added, water should be near the top of the list.

"Talking about what needs to be done is straightforward, delivering that change, less so," Portes said. "Water is something very visible and people care about it. You can't say it should be the top priority above things like the National Health Service, but it should certainly be in the top set."