Rise in faulty sewage monitors as water firms accused of “covering up environmental scandal”
EMBARGO: Immediate Release
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Almost 2,300 sewage monitors found to be faulty - over one in six of all monitors
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Number of sewage discharges potentially much higher than feared
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Lib Dems accuse water companies of covering up environmental scandal by failing to fix monitors
New analysis by the Liberal Democrats has revealed water companies are failing to monitor hundreds of sewage discharges in coastlines and rivers.
The number and length of sewage dumps from storm overflows is measured by Event Duration Monitors (EDMs). However, analysis of Environment Agency data reveals water companies have either installed monitors which do not work 90% of the time, or have simply not installed the monitors at all.
In 2021, the Environment Agency recorded 1,802 sewage monitors as not working all of the time - 12% of all monitors.
In 2022, this has risen to a staggering 2,298 sewage monitors recorded as faulty - one in six (16%) of all monitors where sewage discharges took place. This means the time and amount of sewage discharged into those areas is potentially far more than first feared.
The worst offenders for faulty sewage monitors are Severn Trent (715), Yorkshire Water (495) and United Utilities (229).
Some monitors have now been broken for two years. In Tiverton, Devon, South West Water’s sewage monitor is recorded as broken for both years citing "sensor failure". It worked for 0% of the time for the past years. Meanwhile, Anglian Water’s monitor for the River Wensum operated just 38% of the time last year despite being broken the previous year and under investigation.
Liberal Democrats Rural Affairs spokesperson Tim Farron said:
“These water companies could be guilty of covering up an environmental scandal. What is the point of installing these monitors if they don’t even work?
“Why on earth are Conservative Ministers letting them get away with this? Therese Coffey has to go. We need an environment secretary who actually cares about the environment. In her six months in post, it has been all talk and no action on the sewage crisis.
“The scary reality is that we have no idea just how dirty our coastlines, rivers and lakes are. The data released last week could be just half the story given the thousands of sewage monitors found to be faulty.
“It is a national scandal that this equipment is left broken whilst water company executives rake in multi-million pound bonuses.”
ENDS
Notes to Editor
First reported by The Telegraph.
Link to Liberal Democrat analysis of Environment Agency sewage discharge data - 2021 and 2022 - Faulty sewage monitors
Original source is based on 2022 and 2021 data provided by the water companies to the Environment Agency. This reveals the length of sewage discharges, as well as the number of “Event Duration Monitors” which were found to be faulty.
Water companies have to report the percentage of operating time of the monitors on storm overflows and then if it’s operating less than 90% of the time they have to provide a reason why it is happening and a timeframe for fixing it
Q&A
Why is this a cover up? Are water companies deliberately withholding data?
The failure of water companies to address the number of faulty monitors amounts to a cover up, they are refusing to ensure sewage spills are properly monitored. Some of these monitors have been faulty for several years, for example the data shows in Therese Coffey’s own constituency the same monitor was faulty for two years.
By the end of this year every overflow has to be monitored, but the number of faulty monitors is rising meaning many sewage overflows are still going unmonitored.
What specifically can be done about it, e.g should water companies be fined?
If water companies fail to fix these faulty monitors, they should be held to account and fined. Particularly when year after year monitors are found to be faulty - it shows a complete disregard for the requirements that overflows have to be monitored.
The government is happy to claim that water companies are now subject to unlimited fines, but the vast majority of this sewage dumping is legally and within permits - so fining them when they’re not telling us what’s happening due to faulty equipment seems reasonable.
What are the current rules, are there discussions with water companies about forcing them to fix this?
We cannot find anything obvious about what the current rules are. Water companies have to report the percentage of operating time of the monitors on storm overflows and then if it’s operating less than 90% of the time they have to provide a reason why it is happening and a timeframe for fixing it - there doesn’t seem to be consequences for not fixing it quickly.
10% seems an extremely generous amount of time for monitors to be allowed not to function and yet many monitors are still not working. The rules should be tightened up and get stricter year on year.