Why do water companies spill sewage into rivers and seas and how does UK water quality compare to other countries?FactCheck takes a look.Water companies are sometimes allowed to spill sewage into open water following heavy rainfall to prevent the system becoming overloaded, using relief valves called “storm overflows” to release extra rainwater and wastewater into rivers or seas.Although still high, this was actually down 19 per cent compared to 2021, and 25 per cent lower than 2020.
A Defra spokesperson told FactCheck the department’s farming schemes “are providing significant funding to reduce agricultural run-off” and the government’s Plan for Water is “tackling every source of pollution and ensuring swift enforcement action is taken against those who break the rules”. She said “the lack of investment in the infrastructure means that the water companies often rely on the combined sewer overflow network, even though this is to be used only during incidents such as extreme rainfall.”The UK is one of ten European countries that share the top Environmental Performance Index ranking for the cleanest drinking water worldwide.
For bathing water sites, which are measured differently from ecological status, 86 per cent per cent were of excellent quality in 2022, according to the, 66 per cent were classified as excellent , though these figures are not directly comparable to the EEA figures.