Parents afraid to let their children swim in the sea, says Environment Secretary
Steve Reed MP speaks to ITV Meridian's Sangeeta Bhabra
The Environment Secretary has admitted that "parents are afraid" to let their children swim in rivers and the sea because of pollution caused by sewage discharges.
Steve Reed MP said he recognised the "scale of the problem" and claimed that it had been caused by water companies "pumping increasing levels of toxic raw sewage" into our waterways.
The Secretary of State met water industry bosses, earlier this month, to explain a series of "special measures" aimed at improving their performance.
Speaking to ITV News Meridian, Mr Reed said: “When I was young. We could go and paddle in the sea quite safely. Today, parents are frightened and afraid to let their kids go and splash about in the water for fear of what they might catch.
“That simply should not be happening in our country. The previous government stood by and did nothing about that problem. This Labour government will focus on the problem. We will get the waterways cleaned up and if the water bosses don't play ball, the water bosses will be in the dock.”
Steve Reed MP explains the new government's plan to tackle sewage pollution
The Environment Agency said five out of nine water companies in England were rated as "requiring improvement" in its annual report released last week.
There were 47 serious pollution incidents last year – up from 44 in 2022 – with Thames Water, Anglian Water, Southern Water and Yorkshire Water responsible for 90% of those incidents.
The Environment Secretary said: “This government will do things differently. I called the water bosses into my office within seven days of the election happening, and we are putting them under special measures.
“That includes making water bosses who are overseeing this level of illegal sewage, sewage dumping, face criminal charges if they don't sort it out.
“Secondly, we're going to give the regulator the power they need to ban the payment of the multi-million pound bonuses that they are taking despite overseeing such catastrophic levels of failure.
“The third step is we're going to ring fence bill payers' money, so that if the water companies don't use it to fix the broken sewage system, which it's been intended for, then it will be refunded back to customers as discounts on their bill.”
A recent statement from the sector’s trade association, Water UK, said: “The performance of some companies, as they acknowledge, is not improving fast enough and pollution incidents remain too high.
“Water companies have proposed investing a record £105 billion to secure our water supply in the future and stop sewage entering our rivers and seas. Ofwat needs to approve these plans in full as any less will put critical improvements at risk.”
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