Watchdog fines just four companies despite 300,000 sewage spills
Campaigners say Environment Agency lacks resources to hold offenders to account
www.ft.com
Sewage polluters should worry....
- Thread starter JohnD
- Start date
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Southern Water fined £126m for wastewater spills - Oceanographic
The punishment has been served to Southern Water due to wastewater spills from its sewage plants and for deliberately misreporting its performance.
oceanographicmagazine.com
"“What we found in this case is shocking. In all, it shows the company was being run with scant regard for its responsibilities to society and the environment,” said Ofwat chief executive, Rachel Fletcher in a statement. “It was not just the poor operational performance, but the co-ordinated efforts to hide and deceive customers of the fact that are so troubling.”
It was also discovered that Southern Water had manipulated its wastewater sampling process and misreported key information about the performance of some sewage treatment sites. This meant the company avoided penalties under Ofwat’s incentive regime."
Some of them have only just come to light
No doubt there are many more that have been hidden or not discovered.
Sewage illegally dumped into Windermere repeatedly over 3 years, BBC finds
United Utilities failed to report 100 million litres of illegal discharges, analysis of its data shows.
www.bbc.co.uk
No doubt there are many more that have been hidden or not discovered.
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I cant check the facts in the first statement as no link to the data is provided, however I would strongly suspect this includes all the Combined Storm Overflows, (CSO's), which are permitted to discharge in times of heavy rainfall, and as I said, the output would be heavily diluted with rainwater, along with the run off from roads, roofs and other paved areas.
The first link to the Southern Water incidents were between 2010 and 2015. Second was more recent but that was down to pump failure, normally the telematics should monitor and raise an alarm if something goes wrong, clearly on this occasion it didn't. I would also be very interested to hear how you think taking Water back into Public Ownership would solve the issue?
We cant get the NHS, Education, Motorways, Roads, Railways, and most State Operated Infrastructure right, so what makes water any different? All we'll get is calls for water bills and taxation to rise to cover the cost of the investment claimed to be needed to sort things out, and given we seem to be struggling to operate a 'Smart' Motorway properly, then we've no hope with the amount of sewers, pumps and associated assets that would need to be monitored 24/7.
We are still using Infrastructure built by the Victorians, mainly because so much of it was over engineered in the first place, it's still adequate for todays needs. The issue is, and will remain, we haven't got the capacity to collect, store and treat every drop of water that falls from the Sky and makes its way into the Drainage system, and as I pointed out previously, the task of retrofitting separate systems of drainage would be ridiculously expensive, would cause untold disruption, and then we'd have the issue with the existing sewers choking up as they wouldn't be getting the regular flushing through they were designed to have and ultimately need, during times of rainfall.
Which ultimately may start causing more spillages, the very thing you are vociferously complaining about now!
There is no easy solution.
The first link to the Southern Water incidents were between 2010 and 2015. Second was more recent but that was down to pump failure, normally the telematics should monitor and raise an alarm if something goes wrong, clearly on this occasion it didn't. I would also be very interested to hear how you think taking Water back into Public Ownership would solve the issue?
We cant get the NHS, Education, Motorways, Roads, Railways, and most State Operated Infrastructure right, so what makes water any different? All we'll get is calls for water bills and taxation to rise to cover the cost of the investment claimed to be needed to sort things out, and given we seem to be struggling to operate a 'Smart' Motorway properly, then we've no hope with the amount of sewers, pumps and associated assets that would need to be monitored 24/7.
We are still using Infrastructure built by the Victorians, mainly because so much of it was over engineered in the first place, it's still adequate for todays needs. The issue is, and will remain, we haven't got the capacity to collect, store and treat every drop of water that falls from the Sky and makes its way into the Drainage system, and as I pointed out previously, the task of retrofitting separate systems of drainage would be ridiculously expensive, would cause untold disruption, and then we'd have the issue with the existing sewers choking up as they wouldn't be getting the regular flushing through they were designed to have and ultimately need, during times of rainfall.
Which ultimately may start causing more spillages, the very thing you are vociferously complaining about now!
There is no easy solution.
Just to check, are you under the impression you have proved it to be "rare?"
We are still using Infrastructure built by the Victorians, mainly because so much of it was over engineered in the first place, it's still adequate for todays needs.
Wasn't the Privitisation of water companies meant to upgrade the network with investment?
All they've done is line shareholders pockets, as far as i can tell
Wasn't the Privitisation of water companies meant to upgrade the network with investment?
All they've done is line shareholders pockets, as far as i can tell
Water industry investment dropped in the years before privatisation, as a result of government policy.
"By 1980, investment in the water sector was just one-third of what it had been in 1970. Margaret Thatcher's Conservative government, which had been elected in 1979, had curtailed the RWAs' ability to borrow money they deemed necessary for capital projects.[8][9][11] Daniel Okun said: "Before, they could borrow money everywhere easily. They could get money at very good rates. Restrictions on external borrowing prevented the [RWAs] from getting capital. They were considered ineffective because they could not borrow money. Thatcher prevented them from borrowing and then blamed them for not building."[9]
en.wikipedia.org
"Since privatisation, £65.9 billion has been paid out in water company dividends. There was a 20% increase in executive pay last year, and Britain's privatised water and sewerage companies paid £1.4 billion in dividends in 2022, up from £540 million the previous year."
22 Feb 2024
"By 1980, investment in the water sector was just one-third of what it had been in 1970. Margaret Thatcher's Conservative government, which had been elected in 1979, had curtailed the RWAs' ability to borrow money they deemed necessary for capital projects.[8][9][11] Daniel Okun said: "Before, they could borrow money everywhere easily. They could get money at very good rates. Restrictions on external borrowing prevented the [RWAs] from getting capital. They were considered ineffective because they could not borrow money. Thatcher prevented them from borrowing and then blamed them for not building."[9]
Water privatisation in England and Wales - Wikipedia
"Since privatisation, £65.9 billion has been paid out in water company dividends. There was a 20% increase in executive pay last year, and Britain's privatised water and sewerage companies paid £1.4 billion in dividends in 2022, up from £540 million the previous year."
22 Feb 2024
That's not the topic of this thread.
If you want to discuss the benefits of Thatcherism and her economic illiteracy, start another. Who should own the water industry? The National Grid? How are the railways doing? Should we have a national mail service?
Selling it off didn't do much good, did it?
If the taxpayer has to pay to get the water industry back on its feet, we shouldn't just hand the money to the pirates who raped and looted us.
Are you old enough to remember when there used to be a thing called "public service?"
If you want to discuss the benefits of Thatcherism and her economic illiteracy, start another. Who should own the water industry? The National Grid? How are the railways doing? Should we have a national mail service?
Selling it off didn't do much good, did it?
If the taxpayer has to pay to get the water industry back on its feet, we shouldn't just hand the money to the pirates who raped and looted us.
Are you old enough to remember when there used to be a thing called "public service?"
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A rotary ventilation device?Hopefully then, the sh!t will hit something other than a bather, swimmer, or surfer
Only 49 hours!
www.independent.co.uk
Untreated sewage pours into Langstone harbour
Campaigners call on MPs to vote to make it a legal obligation for water companies to stop dumping raw sewage
www.independent.co.uk
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