Chance to end the sewerage scandal.

An example of what is being done aiming at reducing pollution by 90%, paid for by water users

Who will pay for the Thames Tideway Tunnel?

The tunnel will cost £3.8bn to complete, and an additional £1.1bn has already been spent by Thames Water for preparatory works. The cost of the project is being paid for by Thames Water’s 15 million wastewater customers through their bills.

£65 billion has been paid to shareholders since privatisation.

The Environment Agency has estimated that….

“The figures are somewhere in the region of between £3.7bn and £62.bn to deal with the worst of the sewage pollution. This is well within the profits and dividends of these companies and if it were to be passed on to the bill-payer, it could be done at an affordable level.”

The water companies are of course claiming a bigger figure, but most outside interests are of the opinion that the figures quoted are correct. This would add between £19 - £59 pa to consumer if the companies were continued privatised.

Oh and the Victorians were pushed into building the system we are still using by amongst other things typhoid and the “big stink” from the Thames.

During the last century the Thames was dead for much of the time, declared biologically “dead” in 1957, but after decades of restoration it was brought back to life with seal colonies, sea horses, salmon etc reported. However, over 8000 tons of raw sewerage was pumped into the Thames in 2022. But Thames Water was the lowest polluter by loads.

It's not just human waste.

Vast amounts of waste from animals, particularly from chicken farms, is washed into our rivers, polluting them further.

You should be directing your ire at OFWAT not the water companies, it’s a Department of the Environment agency that controls the regional Water Companies

They set the water quality standards, the amount each needs to invest and the cost to the consumer, all the water companies do is manage the business efficiently, OFWAT makes all the decisions.

The water companies can't be managing the business efficiently if they are discharging unprecedented amounts of sewage into our seas and rivers.

I'm sure you don't need to be reminded that there have been cuts to the Environment Agency budgets (and therefore to OFWAT) over the past decade. They cannot afford to inspect and prosecute to the extent that is needed. The water companies are getting away with poor management because they cannot be effectively policed.

I can't see anything on the OFWAT web site about OFWAT setting the amount each water company needs to invest. Where do you get that information from?

The EA have (as it should be) a high bar for prosecution. Staff cuts as well as highly skilled staff leaving to seek better remuneration elsewhere severely limits the EA ability to pursue theses companies as well as the level of fines they are able to levy.

OFWAT is not part of the EA

The EA are responsible for water management, including flood management as well as the environment for the population and wild life. So they are directly responsible for the health of our rivers, but consistently have one hand tied behind their backs because of government (or lack of)policy. The EA does not set investment targets, or cost to the consumer that has absolutely nothing to do with the EA.

Ofwat are run by DEFRA

Regulatory framework
Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra)

Sets the overall water and sewerage policy framework in England. This includes:

standard setting
drafting of legislation
creating special permits (e.g. drought orders)

I’ll try to find a better link

Found it

www.ofwat.gov.uk/investment-in-the-water-industry/

Because Ofwat control the amount invested the can’t prosecute for the discharges but they do fine companies for not meeting targets