Water companies have been accused of “gross negligence” after it emerged that sewage monitors on many British beaches are faulty or missing.
The revelation comes amid a dramatic increase in sewage dumping, with the monopolies accused of underinvesting in infrastructure while paying themselves huge bonuses and £57bn in dividends since privatisation.
There has been a 27-fold increase in untreated sewage discharges into rivers and seas over the last five years, according to Environment Agency figures.
Beaches in East Sussex were closed over the weekend after untreated wastewater was pumped into the sea. A Southern Water spokesman said the firm was “deeply sorry” and described the sewage as “diluted”.
But a new analysis of Environment Agency data now shows there are huge gaps in the government body’s monitoring of sewage outlets thanks to missing or faulty equipment.
The agency’s figures show there are 1,802 monitors installed by water companies which did not work for at least 90 per cent of the time, leaving huge gaps in the data available.
There are also 1,717 storm overflows across the country with no monitor installed at all, meaning there is no record of how much sewage companies are dumping from them.
No sewage monitors were installed at popular seasides like Long Rock in Cornwall, Littlehampton in Sussex or Lee-on-Solent in Hampshire.
And across the popular holiday spots of Devon and Cornwall, one in eight of South West Water’s sewage monitors are either faulty or not operational.
The worst performer of all the water companies for monitoring sewage discharges is Anglian Water, which saw half (49 per cent) of sewage discharges not measured due to faulty or absent monitoring equipment.
Approached about the numbers, the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra) said there had been an increase in the number of overflow outlets monitored across the network from 800 in 2016 to more than 12,000 as of 2020.
The department says all 15,000 overflows should have monitors by the end of 2023.
But Liberal Democrats environment spokesperson Tim Farron said: “These water companies could be guilty of gross negligence by failing to install sewage monitors.
“This is a national scandal and these new figures stink of a cover-up. Britain’s seaside resorts are being swamped by foul sewage yet the government is nowhere to be found.
“Why on earth are Conservative ministers letting them get away with this?
“Sussex has been devastated in recent days by disgraceful sewage dumps because of Southern Water. The CEO of Southern Water should go to Seaford to check on this sewage monitor immediately. The public needs to know how safe, if at all, popular beaches are for swimming.”
Every beach between Brighton and Hastings on the south coast is now polluted with sewage, according to official data released on Friday.
This week water minister Steve Double said: “We are the first government to take action to tackle sewage overflows. We have been clear that water companies’ reliance on overflows is unacceptable and they must significantly reduce how much sewage they discharge as a priority.
“This is on top of ambitious action we have already taken including consulting on targets to improve water quality which will act as a powerful tool to deliver cleaner water, pushing all water companies to go further and faster to fix overflows.
“Work on tackling sewage overflows continues at pace and we will publish our plan in line with the 1 September statutory deadline.”
