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Sewage scandal goes to the High Court
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https://envirotecmagazine.com/2023/07/03/sewage-scandal-goes-to-the-high-court/
_{April 2023 Surfers Against Sewage and Extinction Rebellion protests in St Agnes, Perranporth, Truro and Charlestown which unveiled spoof Blue Plaques to the MPs and Conservative Government who allowed raw sewage to be dumped in the sea (Image: Surfers Against Sewage)}
On Wednesday 5 to Thursday 6 July, the High Court will hear a legal challenge that aims to force the Government to toughen up its plan for reducing sewage dumped in England’s rivers and seas. Good Law Project is supporting the Marine Conservation Society, Richard Haward’s Oysters and surfer and activist Hugo Tagholm as they argue that the Government’s strategy is inadequate, allowing water companies to pollute waters and beaches for another 27 years.
England’s sewers were designed with 14,500 storm overflows to stop them becoming overwhelmed, allowing a mixture of surface water and sewage to be discharged during heavy rainfall. But according to the Environment Agency, these overflows are now used on a routine basis. Water companies discharged untreated sewage through storm overflows more than 300,000 times in 2022 for a total of 1.7 million hours.
The Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (DEFRA) published the Storm Overflows Discharge Reduction Plan to tackle this in August last year. It imposed a deadline of 2035 for reducing the sewage flowing into bathing waters and areas of ecological importance, but gave companies until 2050 to stop discharges elsewhere.
This legal challenge, which has been backed by cross-party MPs, aims to force the Government to bring forward these deadlines and introduce tougher targets.
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https://envirotecmagazine.com/2023/07/03/sewage-scandal-goes-to-the-high-court/
3 July 2023
Tory minister makes baffling defence of water privatisation
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https://leftfootforward.org/2023/06/tory-minister-makes-baffling-defence-of-water-privatisation/
… MPs from different parties lined up to quiz the minister on how the government will tackle the crisis gripping the water sector. Among those to question Pow was Green MP Caroline Lucas.
She said: “Water companies had no debt when they were privatised. Since [then], they have borrowed £53 billion, and much of that has been used to help pay the £72 billion in dividends. Meanwhile, we have this appalling sewage scandal – particularly in the South East of England. We have a failing water company – the Southern Water company – that my constituents have no choice but to rely on and it’s considering raising bills by £279 per year by 2030, largely to pay for the investment that they should have been making in the previous years.
“Doesn’t that just show that the privatisation of water was a serious mistake and it needs to be permanently rectified?”
In an unbelievable response, Pow came back: “What I would say is that privatisation has enabled clean and plentiful water to come out of our taps.”
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Minister says water privatisation has enabled "clean & plentiful water". What?? Since privatised, water firms have borrowed a staggering £53bn, much of that to help pay £72bn shareholder dividends – while sewage pours into rivers & seas. Privatisation has utterly failed @We_OwnIt pic.twitter.com/g3dLpeDdfs
— Caroline Lucas (@CarolineLucas) June 28, 2023

https://leftfootforward.org/2023/06/tory-minister-makes-baffling-defence-of-water-privatisation/
29 June 2023
London water firms slammed as city’s rivers see nearly 2,000 sewage dumps in a year and are ‘only caught out twice’
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April 2023 Surfers Against Sewage and Extinction Rebellion protests in St Agnes, Perranporth, Truro and Charlestown which unveiled spoof Blue Plaques to the MPs and Conservative Government who allowed raw sewage to be dumped in the sea (Image: Surfers Against Sewage)
https://www.mylondon.news/news/london-water-firms-slammed-citys-27195198
The Mayor of London, Sadiq Khan, has been urged to clamp down on sewage dumping in London’s rivers, as the capital’s water companies have only been prosecuted twice in four years. This comes after data has revealed that 31 of the city’s waterways saw 1,809 combined overflow discharges, resulting in raw sewage being pumped into London’s rivers and streams for over 7,000 hours in 2022.
A freedom of information request sent by the Liberal Democrats to the Environment Agency last year revealed that the organisation took action over pollution in London rivers on only eight occasions between 2017 and 2021, and just two incidents resulted in prosecutions.
Mr Khan pledged in July 2020 to reduce water pollution incidents by 30 per cent by 2025. Hina Bokhari AM, the Liberal Dems’ London Assembly environment spokesperson, said: “It is clear from the sheer scale of raw sewage entering London’s waters that the UK Conservative Government has utterly failed to get to grips with this problem. Sewage dumping is endangering human health, our wildlife and our tourism industry across London and the whole country.
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https://www.mylondon.news/news/london-water-firms-slammed-citys-27195198
26 June 2023
‘Revolving door’ of staff between water firms and regulators clamping down on sewage ‘stinks’
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https://inews.co.uk/news/politics/battle-against-sewage-undermined-revolving-door-staff-2435283
At least six senior workers identified as moving jobs between regulators including Ofwat and the Environment Agency and water companies in Lib Dem investigation
It comes amid widespread concerns around the number of sewage spills in the UK (Photo: Finnbarr Webster/Getty)
By Arj Singh
Deputy Political Editor
June 26, 2023 6:00 am(Updated 8:19 am)
There is a “revolving door” of executives between regulators supposed to clamp down on sewage spills and water companies, raising questions about a “conflict of interest”, an investigation has revealed.
At least six senior current industry staff members have been identified as moving jobs between regulators including Ofwat and the Environment Agency and water firms such as Southern, Northumbrian and South West Water.
It has triggered warnings that regulators could feel “sympathetic to their mates at their former company” or “water company executives who know how to avoid regulations”, and calls for the anti-corruption watchdog Acoba (Advisory Committee on Business Appointments) to investigate.
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https://inews.co.uk/news/politics/battle-against-sewage-undermined-revolving-door-staff-2435283
26 June 2023
Anti-strike law: Paul Nowak perfectly dismantles bill ahead of Parliament vote
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https://leftfootforward.org/2023/05/anti-strike-law-paul-nowak-perfectly-dismantles-bill-ahead-of-parliament-vote/
The legislation is an attempt to ‘drive a wedge between working people’
General Secretary of the Trades Union Congress (TUC) Paul Nowak took to the airwaves this morning to speak out about the anti-strikes bill which will be voted on by MPs this evening.
He slammed media accusations of union ‘scare tactics’ by laying out the reality of the Strikes (Minimum Service Levels) Bill which could see workers lose their job for taking strike action.
As media presenters sought to play down the implications of the bill, Nowak said threatening workers with the sack was ‘untenable’ and that the real reason it was being put through was to ‘demonise trade unions’ and ‘drive a wedge between working people’.
“There is no public appetite at all to see nurses, paramedics, teachers, railway [ workers …] sacked for exercising what most people will think as a fundamental British liberty, the right to strike,” Nowak said on Sky News.
“To remove it would put the UK as a real international outlier.”
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https://leftfootforward.org/2023/05/anti-strike-law-paul-nowak-perfectly-dismantles-bill-ahead-of-parliament-vote/
22 May 2023

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