Sewage discharges to halve by 2030, minister pledges

The government is preparing a "water revolution" that will halve the number of times sewage is discharged into waterways in England and Wales by 2030, the environment secretary has said.

Steve Reed told the BBC's Sunday with Laura Kuenssberg that the water sector was "broken" and the regulator, Ofwat, was "clearly failing".

The "reset" would include tougher treatment of water company bosses if their companies were not meeting the required standards, including possible prison sentences.

However, he did not confirm if Ofwat would be scrapped, a policy recommendation that could be included in a landmark review of the industry, due to be published on Monday.

Reed said he had been given the review's report but had not yet had time to read it thoroughly.

But he ruled out taking water back into public ownership, which would "take years" and be too expensive, he added.

"Nationalisation would cost upwards of £100bn that we'd have to take away from the National Health Service and schools to give to the owners of the companies that are polluted," said Reed.

His vow on sewage discharge marks the first time ministers have set a clear target on the number of pollution spills, following public outcry over the state of the UK's waterways.

Reed said families had "watched their local rivers, coastlines and lakes suffer from record levels of pollution" - but the Conservatives claimed Labour had "done nothing to stop water bill rises" despite "big promises" to reform the system.

"I've been up and down this country and spoken to wild swimmers, parents, everybody furious about the state of our water," Reed said.

"So clearly, regulation must change."

He told the programme he would be held accountable if there had not been improvements in water quality by the next election.

"Politicians come and say we're going to do things. Of course our job should be on the line if we don't," he said.

The pledge forms part of wider government plans to improve the water sector, ahead of the Water Commission review of the industry being published on Monday.

James Wallace, chief executive of charity River Action UK, said the target seemed "admirable" but that ultimately it was a "political pledge".

He told BBC Breakfast: "It's not actually legally binding.

"It's incumbent on water companies to fulfil their part of the bargain, but what about the government - how are they going to be held to account?"

The plans announced on Sunday will also include a commitment to work with devolved governments across the UK to ban wet wipes containing plastic, among other measures.

Reed is also expected to confirm aims to cut phosphorus pollution from treated wastewater - which causes algae blooms that are harmful to wildlife - in half by 2028, compared to 2024 levels.

There has been widespread scrutiny of water companies over the increasing number of sewage discharges into UK waterways amid rising bills - all while the firms have paid out millions to executives and shareholders.

The Environment Agency said water companies recorded 2,801 pollution incidents in 2024, up from 2,174 in 2023.

Of those, 75 were considered to pose "serious or persistent" harm to fisheries, drinking water and human health - up from 47 last year.

At the same time, water bosses in England were paid £7.6m in bonuses, according to the government. In June, it barred them from being paid out at six firms that had fallen foul of environmental and consumer standards.

Reed told Laura Kuenssberg extra pay awarded to the boss of Southern Water, which would almost double his income, was "outrageous".

He urged Southern's boss to "think how this looks to their customers" and turn down the pay rise.

The Water Commission's chair will lay out his recommendations on how to improve the environmental and financial performance of the sector. The government will respond in Parliament.

Several UK media outlets reported on Friday that the report would suggest scrapping the regulator, Ofwat, altogether. A government spokesperson said it would not comment on speculation.

England has a combined sewage system, which means both rainfall and sewage are processed through the same system. Last year, rainfall levels were up, which could have overwhelmed some water company infrastructure.

However, despite variations in rainfall, discharges that result in serious pollution are a breach of their permits and legal obligations.

Many incidents are reported to the Environment Agency by the companies themselves, but of 4,000 inspections carried out last year by the regulator, nearly a quarter of sites were in breach of their permits.

A record £104bn is due to be invested into the water sector over the next five years to improve its infrastructure.

As a result, consumer bills are expected to rise on average by £123 annually - though for Southern Water customers this could be as much as £224.

The Environment Agency has also received £189m to support hundreds of enforcement offices to inspect and prosecute water companies, with the fines retroactively paying for this.

Conservative shadow environment secretary Victoria Atkins said the government "must be transparent about where the £104bn investment is coming from as some will come through customer bill rises".

She said plans "must also include credible proposals to improve the water system's resilience to droughts, without placing an additional burden on bill payers and taxpayers".