Surfers Against Sewage (SAS) has today published its Water Quality Report 2022, saying it “lifts the lid on the Sewage Scandal” and uncovers “potential illegal sewage discharges, stomach-churning stats from more than 700 sickness cases and the sorry state of the UK’s ‘excellent’ bathing waters.”

The highly critical report describes the UK as “riddled with a crumbling network of sewage pipes that leak and overflow beneath our feet” and is calling for urgent action by the water companies, Government and regulators to tackle the problems. The campaigning organisation is calling for water companies " to invest urgently in their sewage infrastructure and end the use of sewage overflows".

The report says:

"Water companies keep dirty secrets behind opaque data. CEOs stuff their pockets with cash, rewarded for abysmal environmental performance and poor financial management. Shareholders suck money out of our essential water and sewerage services, shipping profits offshore. Government ‘cuts red tape’ allowing the water industry to govern itself whilst the regulators are left crippled to stand by and watch." 

According to SAS, over 23,000 sewage overflows installed throughout the combined sewerage network, are releasing “a chemical cocktail” of sewage pollution, agricultural pollution, contaminants from roads, household chemicals and rainwater directly into rivers and the ocean.

The report is based on data from a number of publicly available sources, including data from the Environment Agency on sewage discharges on when sewage overflows discharge pollution into 388 beaches and river locations. SAS in turns provide this information across the country via its free mobile app, the Safer Seas & Rivers Service (SSRS), the UK’s only real-time sewage pollution information service. In the report, SAS said it has used data collected through the SSRS between 1st October 2021 and 30th September 2022, including 720 health reports, to focus on “the hidden health crisis caused by sewage pollution.”

SAS questions whether current testing regime is fit for purpose

For the first time, SAS has also used Met Office rainfall data to investigate potentially illegal ‘dry spills’ where a sewage overflow has discharged when there has been no rain, suggesting it can indicate illegal activity. Sewage outflows are only permitted in ‘unusually heavy rainfall’. SAS has looked at instances when it received notifications of sewage discharges at locations on the SSRS but no rainfall was recorded in the area.

In the last 12 months, the report says SAS has uncovered 146 ‘dry spills’ when there had been no rain. SAS found a total of 95 ‘dry spills’ at locations classified as ‘excellent’ under the current testing regime. SAS is questioning whether the current testing regime and the subsequent classifications are really providing a true picture of the state of the country’s waterways.

The report states:

• Between 1st October 2021 and 30th September 2022, the environmental organisation issued a total of 9,216 sewage pollution alerts for locations included in the SSRS - 2,053 of which were during the 2022 bathing season alone.
• 103 sewage overflows at bathing waters across England failed to report their activity for a period of more than 2 weeks during the bathing season. And 44 sewage overflows were left completely unmonitored throughout the entire bathing season
• Over the course of 2020 and 2021, sewage has been dumped into the ocean and rivers around the UK more than 770,000 times.
• Over the summer, sewage was dumped into rivers and seas 5,504 times over a total of 15,021 hours.
• Over 39% of sickness case studies reported to SAS correlate to sewage discharge alerts and 63% of cases that were reported to a doctor were attributed to poor water quality.
• Over the last 12 months, SAS received 720 sickness reports, highlighting when and where people have been getting sick after being in the water.
• Almost 70% of people reported suffering from stomach upsets (gastroenteritis) and 1 in every 15 cases reported multiple illnesses.
• Over 400 reports of sickness were from official bathing waters classified as ‘excellent’.

Government is “complicit” and has “gutted regulator funding”

SAS is highly critical of the Government, saying it is “complicit” and has “gutted regulator funding”, reducing it from £120 million to £50 million over the last decade.

The government also stands accused of having ‘stripped red tape’, allowing water companies to self-report on their pollution. According to SAS, the Government’s recently published Storm Overflows Action Plan to tackle sewage pollution “simply kicks the can downstream, essentially giving companies free rein to continue dumping sewage into our waterways for the next 28 years.”

The report also highlights the fact that “despite nearly every water company recording a loss for the year ending 31st March 2022, the majority of them still paid out dividends to shareholders totalling £965 million.”

It also points out that during the last financial year, water companies paid out a cumulative total of £16.5 million to their Chief Executives.

Amy Slack, Head of Campaigns and Policy at SAS commented:

“Shareholders and CEOs are unashamedly profiteering off pollution. And the government is complicit in the sewage scandal, failing to enforce and strengthen regulations to protect the health of the UK’s waterways – and the health of its citizens. Politicians are simply kicking the can down the road, legitimising sewage pollution for the next 27 years, through the sewage action plan published this summer.”

SAS is calling for:

• 90% reduction in all untreated sewage discharges by 2030
• Investment from water companies and other systemic polluters
• Agricultural industry to amend practices to improve water quality and for government to provides effective support to encourage this.
• World-leading water quality legislation and well-funded regulators
• An enhanced water quality testing regime
• Nature-based solutions to sewage pollution
• 200 inland bathing waters by 2030
• Accurate real-time water quality information available all-year round for all UK inland and coastal bathing areas as well as popular water usage areas

Click here to access the full report online