In 2023, England witnessed a record surge in sewage spills, with private water companies discharging raw sewage into waters for a total of 4 million hours, more than doubling the figures from 2022 levels. This alarming increase, including a 54% rise in sewage spills from storm overflows, has sparked widespread outrage and calls for immediate action across political and social spectrums. The Environment Agency's data revealed the extent of the crisis, highlighting a 136% surge in incidents lasting over a day. Amidst mounting pressure, water companies have pledged to fast-track £180 million by April 2025 to address the issue, aiming to meet stringent targets set to protect water bodies. The government, under scrutiny for its handling of the situation, faces criticism for perceived regulatory failures and a lack of effective oversight. Labour has responded by proposing to make polluting water bosses criminally liable and banning their bonuses, with water bosses having paid themselves £25 million in bonuses since the last election. Calls for public ownership of water services gain momentum as Thames Water, Britain's largest water company, faces a financial crisis, with shareholders denying a £500 million lifeline, raising questions about the sustainability of privatized water services.
Nationalising Thames Water would not serve the public well, writes our business presenter @IanKingSky https://t.co/IYsqx1xemK
Michael Gove says the leadership of Thames Water has been a "disgrace", that "for years customers have been taken advantage of", by "serial mismanagement" and they must be held accountable. https://t.co/9OsXi8zrA9 https://t.co/bPQyRwte6l
💧 South West Water is facing investigations into more than 100 sewage spills in a popular Devon tourist town following major failures in the system since last December ➡️ @DavidParsley50 reports: https://t.co/nYyYl5rUmo https://t.co/vMEuS9fRwy
After 14 yrs of Tory failure, a record amount of toxic, sewage is spilling into our rivers. Birmingham's residents deserve better. @UKLabour will put failing water companies under special measures to force them to clean up their mess and protect people’s health. https://t.co/sYrmdbUYua
Oxford rowing coach calls pollution in Thames a 'national disgrace' ahead of historic Boat Race 🔗 https://t.co/EJb9XrdKlY
UK’s biggest water supplier plunges into deeper financial crisis https://t.co/GtbbsvXjyp
Welsh Water records a 68% rise in hours of spills https://t.co/PLfDxULXmQ
London's water supplier set to collapse into "special administration." https://t.co/QfY7z2KU37
Thames Water enters its end game https://t.co/SKiWkmoq2h | opinion
UK's Biggest Water Supplier At Risk Of Nationalisation As Financial Crisis Worsens https://t.co/p8wtGaJi2s https://t.co/HIdTyAz4Wd
No bailing out of a Thames Water thinking it can go into temporary nationalisation to avoid spending on cleaning up its act. Let it go bust so speculators lose everything then run it permanently as the publicly owned and controlled service that it should always have stayed.
Let’s be clear, the blame for the disaster that is Thames Water lies with the Tories who privatised this essential public service, the profiteers who have ripped off customers & polluted our rivers & successive governments who have failed to bring water back into public ownership
Thames Water crisis is an ugly stand-off — with Londoners caught in the middle https://t.co/qBGgvAiuh4
My reply to Thames Water CE. “This is a disgrace. Privatisation has resulted in consistent long term mismanagement of service, combining profiteering by management & shareholders with rip off charging of customers. My advice: Resign & hand back service into public ownership” https://t.co/sYciDfqjsZ
The government needs to make clear this would be completely unacceptable. Londoners continue to face burst pipes and sewage discharges doubled last year. Londoners should not be punished for this deeply botched model of privatisation. https://t.co/T2OWlx4Cbr
Upping the ante... but who holds the stronger hand here? Not the shareholders, I wager Thames Water says the first £500 million tranche of new equity needed for a turnaround plan will not be provided by the end of the March as anticipated https://t.co/RgXZOrXD2W via @markets
The Standard View: Failing Thames Water has been rinsing us all https://t.co/6DPY3FttSX
🔴Sewage No-Go Zones: Eight Out of Ten Brits ‘Not Comfortable’ Swimming in UK Waters As sewage spills reach a record new high, an exclusive new poll finds fewer than one-in-five Brits would still be willing to take the risk of swimming in British waters https://t.co/6e9KJxp0zH
BREAKING: Unison says Thames Water's business model has failed 🔗 https://t.co/niUceDDA3G Sky's @KamaliMelbourne has more 👇 📺 Sky 501, Virgin 602, Freeview 233 and YouTube https://t.co/pYZAMbmGtE
🔴Sewage No-Go Zones: Eight Out of Ten Brits ‘Not Comfortable’ Swimming in UK Waters Fewer than one-in-five Brits would be willing to take the risk of swimming in British waters, amid surging levels of sewage, reports @AdamBienkov https://t.co/ExwwJbVxOh
UK’s leaky coffers are Thames Water’s lifeboat - https://t.co/mdecoMlXMq - @aimeedonnellan https://t.co/pQ94aIaMBz
Michae Gove says Thames Water is guilty of 'serious mismanagement for which they must carry the can'
Privatised water companies have siphoned off £72,000,000,000 of public money to shareholders. Now they want to increase our bills to pay for their debts. No two ways about it, water must be brought under democratic public control. https://t.co/whGiALYJ2V https://t.co/ypbTyzPHUd
Welsh Water released sewage into rivers, lakes and the sea around Wales for more than 916,000 hours last year https://t.co/MrVry98Asi
🔴 Jeremy Hunt has said he will be monitoring the situation at Thames Water “very carefully” amid concerns the supplier may need a government bailout after shareholders denied the supplier a £500m lifeline. Follow the latest below ⬇️ https://t.co/RG3cNReEEa https://t.co/ApqE4gqIMJ
Welsh Water: Sewage spills rise blamed on wet weather https://t.co/bZSLYhRKnO
Thames Water CEO Chris Weston explains what it is that shareholders want from Ofwat 👇 The nine shareholders said they had been in talks with Thames Water and the regulator to try and find a way through the "complex challenges" facing the company. 🔗 https://t.co/GElIXxYXjC https://t.co/3mP4EWCnqc
Thames Water Chief Executive Chris Weston tells Sky News "it is very much business as usual at Thames Water" – after shareholders said they will not be injecting first £500 million of funding agreed last summer For more on this and other news visit https://t.co/NEDMP2uP6W
Investors can see the writing on the wall for #ThamesWater. Endless sewage, supply outages and no money to sort it out. It's clear Thames Water cannot run this vital public service - none of these companies can. We need to bring them all into public ownership. @We_OwnIt
South West Water is facing investigations into more than 100 sewage spills in a popular Devon tourist town following major failures in the system since last Decembe 💧 @DavidParsley50 reports https://t.co/JIRSmnl1e1
Latest figures show the shocking levels of sewage being pumped into our seas. Back in 2021 local Lib Dems promised to buy out Southern Water. Three years on they have nothing to show for it. Empty words👇 https://t.co/QirxKYjbpE
The Conservatives weakened regulation allowing water companies to get massively in debt while the sewage system crumbled and illegal sewage dumping hit record levels. Consumers must not be left to foot the bill for the Government's failure. https://t.co/5W7H9VUqlP
Chichester river pumped with 273 days of non-stop waste The West Sussex chalk stream is on the cusp of “an environmental catastrophe”, campaigners have warned 💧 @sarahmraza, @joeduggan1 report https://t.co/AcFahEbeQ3
UK FINANCE MINISTER HUNT SAYS OUR UNDERSTANDING IS THAT THAMES WATER IS STILL SOLVENT
After much pushing, the chief exec of Thames Water admits to @BBCr4today the blunt truth. "If at the end of the day, probably well into the end of next year, we were in a situation where we had no equity, then there is the prospect of special administration”.
Raw sewage in English rivers doubled in 2023. But since privatisation water companies have slashed costs, massively underinvested & paid out huge dividend payments to shareholders. Now they want tax payers to fund investment. https://t.co/Wyo0Vk5HKT
BREAKING: Thames Water's shareholders won't provide new money because they fear Ofwat won't let them 💧put up your bills 💩dodge accountability for sewage 🤑continue to pay dividends This is why we need permanent PUBLIC OWNERSHIP https://t.co/u3Hlquyitx https://t.co/1HmDKRvnL8
Thames Water confirms it, shareholders are not prepared to bail the company out. Will TW make it through the holiday weekend? Tick-tock, tick-tock, tick-tock... 🤔 Not a penny of the public's money, you hear that @RishiSunak @10DowningStreet, not a penny of the public's money. https://t.co/cFTxDYZlXh
BREAKING: Thames Water says shareholders to miss equity deadline @MarkKleinmanSky has more 👇 https://t.co/PAiZ4D1jU3 📺 Sky 501, Virgin 602, Freeview 233 and YouTube https://t.co/J1QjFDOW2I
New questions on Thames Water’s future as survival funding in doubt https://t.co/ZcAS8beckR
Thames Water says the first £500 million tranche of new equity needed for a turnaround plan will not be provided by the end of the March as anticipated https://t.co/Y8P1dpkliy
ICYMI Record sewage spills, ecoli on the Boat Race reach of the Thames, and bills about to rise as Thames Water faces crunch decision from investors https://t.co/LmrWFGZI0E
Windrush Against Sewage Pollution founder Ash Smith says we are witnessing the "scam of the century", after water firms released record numbers of sewage into the sea and rivers in 2023. "We should be dealing with this responsibly, not seeing it as a way to make money!" https://t.co/CWpkBKDeu5
A very British measure of how water companies have polluted rivers with raw sewage. The infection risk is so high you can't throw your cox in the water.... https://t.co/ytbFmcanFw
Thursday’s @guardian front page: Outrage over record discharges of sewage into rivers and seas https://t.co/y9a5vnxz7X https://t.co/hKSuzZOlOg
‘Outrage over record discharges…. Ewww.’ @TheSimonEvans, @MrStevenAllen and @FrancisjFoster call news of record discharges being released into British rivers and seas ‘an absolute travesty’. 🔒 Become a GB News Member: https://t.co/mNsRsGC8ef https://t.co/HOkW823SCJ
The brown stuff is starting to hit the fan at Thames Water GLWAT to everyone long the most complicated capital structure in Europe! https://t.co/4XAh9TyK7R
Labour and Tories face outcry over failure to tackle sewage pouring into rivers https://t.co/ExVfVJDQSA
‘A national disgrace’: Oxford rail at River Thames pollution ahead of Boat Race https://t.co/8LAwleQYk2
Thursday's front page: Labour and Tories face outcry over failure to tackle sewage pouring into rivers #TomorrowsPapersToday Latest by @RichardVaughan1 and @luciemheath: https://t.co/gVtXIJ7u1w https://t.co/oTpsdNPdPc
'We're very happy the boat race can be used to bring attention to environmental concerns.' Cambridge rower Helen Nielsen-Scott says "water quality being poor is something we are quite concerned about". #SJUK https://t.co/pCfzWhbZCS 📺 Sky 501, Virgin 602, Freeview 233 https://t.co/ne0E1CxTBf
Could sewage in the sea lead to higher bills? 💧 On the #Daily, @LeahBoleto is joined by @SeabrookClimate and @pkelso to explain how England’s rivers and seas have got to this state and what this could mean for water bills. Listen here 👉 https://t.co/IJafU5jPf9
Britain's biggest water company on brink of collapse as shareholders hold crunch talks amid £15bn debt blackhole https://t.co/t3QWZf9Ild
The destruction of our publicly owned water network by Thatcher really will become an historic lesson for future generations on the many failures of the privatisation of public services in the UK. Meanwhile we need public ownership of water now. https://t.co/8RiIGpQdmk
The shocking figures today have revealed the extent to which our precious bathing waters have been taken for granted by this Government and the water companies they are letting off the hook. Under Labour, this will not be tolerated👇🏻 https://t.co/fApa2HfyRL https://t.co/WvDH4jhN6d
Sewage was dumped near Fulham #SW6 for nearly 6 hours on Wednesday and for 7 hours on Tuesday. We wrote to @thameswater today to express our horror about these deeply harmful sewage dumps into the River Thames ahead of the boat races this weekend👇 https://t.co/w7nvfxP8u8 https://t.co/jA2wDHaQMs
Shocking scale of UK government failure on sewage pollution revealed - by my colleague @sandralaville https://t.co/X1dbNIwF3Q
Britain's Raw Sewage Dumping Scandal Leaves Fish 'Full Of Cocaine' https://t.co/s2X0Zdmrhl
"Most” seas, eh? Here’s a reminder of the headlines after 13 years of Labour government. Labour chose NOT to measure how bad things were and stopped the public finding out. @Conservatives chose to monitor the water quality and we’re taking the right action to fix the issue. https://t.co/dzkAzJPhcL https://t.co/FBoif4kVk6
Water companies get to dump ungodly amounts of shit in our rivers and seas, and get paid millions to do it. We need to nationalise the water companies now. https://t.co/TvMbQ1p2Yc
Water companies in England have record sewage discharges. Privatisation made profits their top concern. They would rather pay fines than invest in infrastructure. https://t.co/1Xh6sVxicp
🎧Could sewage in the sea lead to higher bills? ⬇️ On the Sky News #Daily Pod, @LeahBoleto is joined by climate reporter @SeabrookClimate and business correspondent @pkelso to explain how England’s rivers and seas have got to this state and what this could mean for water bills.
Since the last election the water bosses have paid themselves £25 million in bonuses. Labour will ban the payment of bonuses to polluting water bosses until they have cleaned up their filth. https://t.co/pOB1lpAo2w
New figures released today show for sure that water companies are increasing sewage dumping- way beyond any effect of increased monitoring that govt claim. Only Labour has the will to clean up our rivers and clamp down on this disgrace. https://t.co/1mxZTqduiX
So now everyone involved with @theboatrace know what so many who use the Thames and our other rivers - the river is full of s***after it rains. All thanks to the Conservative Govt failure to address the sewage treatment crisis https://t.co/uFvH7ZDhUe
Thousands of sewage spills recorded across the North East. https://t.co/U5l18YR8Fb
This country is in the shit - literally. Sewage spills more than doubled - and privatised water companies are to blame. Here's an example of how a broken economic model is wrecking Britain. The brilliant @CatHobbs explains all! 👇 https://t.co/BqDapYZnPm https://t.co/aItiWSD9bO
Coventry-based Severn Trent had more than 60 thousand sewage spills last year. Click image for more: https://t.co/aOvBto7vkv
England’s sewage crisis: how polluted is your local river and which regions are worst hit? https://t.co/l1KnMXqQIz
The Conservatives are turning our beautiful countryside into an open sewer. Only Labour has a plan to clean it up👇🏼🧵 https://t.co/P8aJvIipn7
When sewage dumping in our rivers doubled in a year, it's clear that private water companies aren't up to the job and that their excuses just aren't good enough. It's time to ban water bosses' bonuses until they clean up their act and our water. https://t.co/uOoCmIHgdV
New data shows sewage dumps into English waterways reached record highs in 2023. Meanwhile, the Government has ignored my question about the appalling pollution of the Mersey by United Utilities. Why is the destruction of our precious waterways not being treated as a priority? https://t.co/WiURGw1PDc
‘It just proves yet again what a complete and utter shambles this whole thing has become.’ Feargal Sharkey says the Government has lost control after the Environment Agency revealed that sewage spills into England's rivers and seas by water companies more than doubled last year. https://t.co/cqeLN8ict3
Water companies in England face outrage over record sewage discharges https://t.co/2BgOsn47xl
Tory Britain - record breakers for dumping sewage in our rivers and seas. https://t.co/TgsKNbjVyv
https://t.co/n7gYPUMLn1 This is horrendous- regardless of 'changes to reporting' - Sewage spills DOUBLING to 400 million hours last year. #cleanupyouract
Complete garbage. Bathing waters were WORSE under Labour. We just had no monitoring to know how bad. But we know it was worse from testing, bathing water classifications and the number of Blue Flag beaches. https://t.co/tMo0j81W7U
Sewage is being dumped into Scotland’s rivers and waterways more than 50 times a day Campaigners say the “disturbing” new findings only hint at the true scale of the problem north of the border 💧 @adamtomforrest reports: https://t.co/58Pi0Wk6Gi https://t.co/JjWFCNdyea
Discharges by water companies of untreated sewage doubled from 1.8 million hours in 2022 to a record 3.6 million in 2023, according to new Environment Agency data Sky's @pkelso has the latest ⬇️ https://t.co/X3u7iSNx9t 📺 Sky 501, Virgin 602, Freeview 233 and YouTube https://t.co/WaMaiFPxi4
The number of hours of sewage outflows by water companies more than doubled last year, up to 3.6m from 1.75m. Not that you would know it from this @EnvAgency press release, which fails to mention it https://t.co/pccIRx5mxR
‘The EA and the Government Bodies are woefully failing in their duties to us and the environment.’ James Murray reacts to the Environment Agency revealing that sewage spills into England's rivers and seas by water companies more than doubled last year. https://t.co/TFWaIZSQan
There was a 54% increase in sewage spills from storm overflows in 2023 Minister Andrew Griffith says there's a positive in that figure, because it shows 'were detecting this at a much higher rate than we were before' https://t.co/pSU9ZuJdK2
Labour calls for immediate bonuses ban for polluting water company bosses. After 14 years, the time for waiting is over. https://t.co/M2mQ06D6NB
The Conservatives have stood back and let a torrent of raw sewage pour into our rivers and seas for 4 million hours last year. Labour will make polluting water bosses criminally liable and slap an immediate ban on their bonuses. https://t.co/QseuCKCMxo
“the scale of the rise in discharges is beyond what full monitoring would be expected to provide.” Proof that water comapny sewage dumping is getting worse, not that govt now better at monitoring. Only @UKLabour will end this filthy disgrace. https://t.co/hOgIdSoDNl
Thames Water accused of acting like 'rogue traders' after 136% surge in sewage spills lasting over a day https://t.co/VcCvxy3ykK
14,027,654 hours worth of sewage dumped into England's rivers on 1,847,835 occasions over the last 5 years and this man is the man in charge, Minister for Sewage. Remember that when you next find yourself standing at the ballot box. https://t.co/SvKNNrnIdD
❌ No-one should profit from polluting our waters. We are cracking down with on water companies profiting from illegal behaviour. If water companies commit criminal breaches, their bosses should NOT be financially rewarded. #PlanForWater https://t.co/UoDrJdUEIZ
Water companies are to fast-track £180m by April 2025 to cut sewage spills and make progress towards our tough targets 🚧 As part of our #PlanForWater, we will continue to push water companies to measurably reduce sewage spills to protect our waters 👇 https://t.co/EZv46MglMo https://t.co/psNuh6Yj7L
Coming up on GMB👇 📰Environment Agency figures are expected to confirm last year was the worst for sewage spills in England since monitoring began. ⭐️Actor Rufus Sewell tells us how he became obsessed with Prince Andrew as he filmed new drama, Scoop. 🗣️Should the BBC go… https://t.co/HZKFCVI9Mi
BREAKING: Private water companies dumped raw sewage in our waters for 4 MILLION HOURS in 2023 - they more than doubled 2022 levels. This is not a failure of regulation. The whole system is built for profit, not people. #EndSewage #NationaliseOurWater https://t.co/duQX2wJ23B https://t.co/HsBHuWixec
It looks like the sewage scandal has got even worse under Rishi Sunak's watch. What a colossal failure by this Conservative government to protect our rivers and beaches from being ruined. https://t.co/Xopbbp4KQ0
Exclusive by @sandralaville and I- tomorrows record sewage spill figures revealed https://t.co/qkcPb0z44W