Surfers Against Sewage – End All Sewage Discharges into UK Bathing Waters by 2030

I strongly support the Surfers Against Sewage campaign to end all sewage discharges into UK bathing waters by 2030.

The scandal of privatised water companies putting profit before upholding their environmental obligations becomes especially important in highly sensitive areas like West Cornwall, with eighty miles of coastline and some of Britain’s most vulnerable biodiversity. When the Conservatives privatised water services in 1989, they created risk-free, ethics-free monopolies which could effectively predict their year-end outturn and share dividends when they set their budget forecast. The Conservatives sought to justify it on the pretext that it would provide the investment necessary to upgrade our sewerage infrastructure, but instead it has been primarily used as a vehicle for extracting profits for shareholders and eye-watering bonuses for top executives, irrespective of the companies’ pollution record. Raw sewage is now routinely discharged by South West Water into our rivers and coastal waters, whilst the company has run up large debts. £74 billion has been paid out in dividends and bonuses since privatisation. Rectifying this situation will require radical action.

The Liberal Democrats consulted Surfers Against Sewage and other respected NGOs while we developed our water and pollution-control policy. In our election manifesto, we committed to tackling the national scandal of sewage-polluted rivers, waterways and beaches, and making water companies work for people by:

Introducing a Sewage Tax on water company profits.

Enforcing existing laws to ensure that the storm overflows only function in the most exceptional circumstances – ie not routinely as at present.

Setting legally binding targets to prevent sewage dumping into bathing waters and highly sensitive nature sites by 2030.

Embracing nature-based solutions to tackle the problem of sewage dumping.

Strengthening the powers of the Environment Agency and local authorities to monitor the health of our rivers, lakes and coastlines, restore our natural environment and tackle climate change.

Introducing a ‘blue corridor’ programme for rivers, streams and lakes to ensure clean and healthy water and setting new ‘blue flag’ standards.

Ban top exec. bonuses.

Empower the regulator to take water companies to court and to fine them for breaching pollution law.

Scrap OFWAT and replace it with a more effective regulator.

Improving the quantity and quality of bathing waters and sensitive nature sites with more regular and robust testing of water quality.

Giving local environmental groups a place on water companies’ boards to act as independent environmental champions.

Introducing a single social tariff for water bills to help eliminate water poverty within the next Parliament.

Implementing Schedule 3 of the Flood and Water Management Act to require sustainable drainage systems in new developments.

Mandating all water companies to publish accessible real-time data on any sewage they dump.

We will also look to convert these companies to social enterprises/community benefit companies.

Though the new Labour Government has proposed the introduction of many of these proposals (many of which were in our manifesto and not theirs), they have still not yet agreed to all. Therefore, I will work with my Liberal Democrat parliamentary colleagues over the coming months and years to make the case for change. Crucially, the current Labour policy is to allow the water companies to continue as purely private enterprises, whereas the Liberal Democrats are calling for them to be converted to “Community Benefit Companies”, with a legal obligation to put environmental and social priorities ahead of creating profits for shareholders.