New analysis finds most sewage spills in England may be illegal and unpunished
A new analysis suggests that over 80% of sewage spills in England may have been illegal and gone unpunished, raising concerns about enforcement and environmental protection.
The Full Story
A plain summary built from the channels that reported this story.
A new analysis suggests that more than 80% of sewage spills in England over the last two years may have been illegal and have gone unpunished. The research, conducted by anti-pollution campaigner Professor Peter Hammond, found that the vast majority of spills occurred during normal weather conditions, when by law they should have been treated.
Under current rules, water companies are allowed to discharge untreated sewage only during heavy rainfall to prevent the system from being overwhelmed and to avoid sewage backing up into homes. However, the Environment Agency has never formally defined what constitutes heavy rainfall, leaving a loophole that critics say water companies have exploited.
Professor Hammond used a definition of heavy rain that had been successfully used in a 2021 court case against Southern Water. By cross-referencing that definition with water companies' own spill data and rainfall records, he concluded that 80 to 90% of spills were in breach of permit conditions.
The Environment Agency responded by saying the definition was specific to a particular site and that overflows should only operate in rainfall and snow melt. Water UK, the trade body for water companies, called the analysis hypothetical and reiterated a commitment to ending all discharges.
The findings highlight years of underinvestment in the sewage network, which is unable to cope even with normal weather. The regulator, the Environment Agency, has been accused of allowing rule-breaking on a massive scale. In a separate development, a yellow heat health alert has been issued for southern and central England, and a hosepipe ban has been brought in for more than 10 million Thames Water customers.
Testing at Little Moor Brook on the outskirts of Oxford, which flows into the River Thames, found E. coli levels of 43,000 units per 100 millilitres, far above the safe level of 900 for swimming. The water was described as an 'E. coli soup'.
On screen
Stills are sampled automatically at 60-second intervals. Where shown, the still is the nearest available frame from the relevant broadcast segment and is included to show what was on screen during that part of the broadcast. A still may not correspond to the exact second of a quoted phrase.
Key Claims
Claims reported during this story's coverage, mapped by channel. Ordered by how many channels carried each claim.
| Claim | BBC One |
|---|---|
| A water sample from Little Moor Brook showed E. coli levels of 43,000 units per 100ml, far above the safe swimming level of 900. | |
| Over 80% of sewage spills in the last two years may have been illegal and gone unpunished. | |
| The Environment Agency has never defined heavy rainfall, allowing water companies to use rain as an excuse for spills. |
Channel Perspectives
What each channel focused on, with key quotes.
The report focused on the local environmental impact, using on-site testing at Little Moor Brook in Oxford to illustrate the severity of pollution. It emphasised the regulatory failure of the Environment Agency to define heavy rainfall, allowing widespread illegal spills, and highlighted the health risks with specific E. coli measurements.
- “80 to 90 percent of All the spilling is in breach of permit if you apply this strict definition of heavy rainfall”
- “the Environment Agency has never said never defined what heavy rainfall is So if it is raining They can just use it as an excuse because no one can say just how much rain is acceptable and or unacceptable”
- “It's forty three thousand units per hundred milliliters Which is very very high the safe level for swimming is under 900”
Broadcast Timeline
News broadcasts tracked for this story, in time order.