Most sewage spills in England may be illegal, new research suggests
Most of the sewage spills into England's waterways in the last two years may have been illegal but gone unpunished, according to new analysis.
UK law states that raw sewage should not be released during "normal" weather conditions, yet until now the regulator has not clarified exactly what that means.
But campaigner Prof Peter Hammond obtained a definition in secret court papers, and said it shows that for more than 80% of the time sewage was being spilled, the weather was "normal" - making the spills possibly illegal.
8 replies
There are times when it is legal to dump raw sewage??
Only during storms to prevent the combined sewer system from flooding out of manholes.
Ah, okay this makes more sense
I'm not saying it'll fix the problem, but at least when these companies are taken under public ownership we will be able force some action to stop it.
Are you hoping to stop all discharges?
Yes.
I'm sure they can be reduced further but because the storm drainage (e.g. roads and roofs) is connected into the foul creating a combined sewer the overflows will still be required. In other areas storm and foul are in separate networks.
If sewage is bubbling up from your manholes and storm drains, just sternly remind it that new research suggests that it may be breaking the law.