Come on in, the Water’s bubbly

Liberal Democrats locally and nationally have been submitting Environmental Information Requests to try to build up a picture of how much raw sewage is being released into our rivers, seas and waterways. It is not good news.

The map on the right shows how much this went on in 2023 into the Spodden. It is incomplete for two reasons: There are outflows which are not monitored, and therefore is no data for these outflows. Also the volume of discharge is not published. Often the water companies have these figures but don’t release them.
Another issue the Liberal Democrats uncovered is that over one in six monitors were found to be ‘faulty’ and the number of discharges is potentially much higher than feared. An ITV investigation named our local supplier, United Utilities, as being among the worst offenders.

A new analysis of Companies House records and financial reporting has revealed 10 water firms paid no tax at all in 2022/2023. In the previous year it was just 1. Whilst water firms have benefited from government tax cuts, they have paid out over £1bn in dividends to their owners, according to the regulators, Ofwat.

Now, to add insult to injury, United Utilities are proposing an above inflation increase in Water Charges of 8%, whilst failing to keep our waterways clean.

Rabina Asghar stated “We need to see the water companies stop paying dividends to overseas investors and bonuses to their top brass until they have cleaned up both their act, and our polluted waterways.”