Sewage dumped into English waters for 4m hours in 2024

Raw sewage was discharged into rivers and coastal waters in England for almost 4m hours last year, with some waterways that have the highest environmental protections subjected to days of pollution.

- Sandra Laville Michael Goodier

Data released by the Environment Agency yesterday revealed water companies discharged untreated effluent for 3.62m hours, a slight increase on last year.

The data showed that nothing had changed, Giles Bristow from Surfers against Sewage said. "The picture is just as bleak. Despite commitments to investment over the past five years, our water is no cleaner," he said.

The increase comes as water companies are increasing bills by an average of £123 to pay for the replacement and upgrading of ageing infrastructure, in the biggest hit to customers' pockets since the industry was privatised 36 years ago.

The environment secretary, Steve Reed, said: "These figures are disgraceful and are a stark reminder of how years of underinvestment have led to water companies discharging unacceptable levels of sewage into our rivers, lakes and seas."

While water companies said the number of incidents of discharges had reduced by 2% to 450,398, the combined overall duration increased again, to 3.62m hours.