Urgent action to prevent yet further damage to the Evenlode
| Martin Goodson |
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Tue 28 Oct, 15:05 Hi All We've had a response from Emma Hardy, the Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Water and Flooding. Thanks to Sean Woodcock for contacted her on our behalf. You can click on the link above to see the original document. It would be good to know your thoughts. Here is the text of the message. : We recognise that for too long, water companies have discharged unacceptable levels of sewage into our rivers, lakes and seas. That is why we introduced the Water (Special Measures) Act. The Act will drive meaningful improvements in the performance and culture of the water industry as a first important step in enabling wider, transformative change across the water sector. Provisions within the Act have recently come into force to provide Ofwat with legal powers to ban unfair bonuses and that water companies will publish Pollution Incidents Reduction Plans for a water company to identify, respond to and reduce sources of sewage pollution incidents in their network each year. This ban has been backdated to any bonuses relating to the financial year from April last year. The Financial Times article provided by your constituent reports that there has been a proposal for changes to targets on sewage pollution, but let me be clear – Thames Water must meet its statutory and regulatory obligations to their customers and the environment. On 20 July 2025, the former Secretary of State pledged to halve sewage pollution by 2030, the most ambitious target set by any government. The government will work in a new partnership with water companies, investors and communities so that we have rivers and beaches where families can swim without worry, and waterways that communities can take pride in once again. To support this pledge, water companies will be investing over £10 billion to reduce sewage discharges from over 2,500 storm overflows in England. This investment will be targeted at those affecting the most sensitive sites for ecological and human health. While the local Environment Agency (EA) team was unaware of the specific survey referenced, the EA has a long-standing relationship with Riverfly Monitoring and greatly value the data gathered by volunteer citizen scientists in the Evenlode Catchment. This monitoring can play an important role in alerting the EA to potential water quality issues, helping it to target its resources and monitoring. The local EA team regularly support their partners with volunteer training, technical advice and site visits, as well as responding to and providing feedback on the data when necessary The EA acknowledges there is a challenge for water quality of the River Evenlode and its tributaries, which has been linked to both the water industry as well as agricultural practices and non-water company industries. More information on the River Evenlode catchment can be found here. The EA is tackling these sources of pollution, having recruited and trained more staff to regulate the water and farming industries. This includes requiring Thames Water to make improvements to many of the sewage treatment works that impact the River Evenlode and its tributaries. These improvements include work to reduce storm discharges as well as the reduction of some substances discharged. Further details on the improvement programme for 2025 to 2030 can be found here. Additionally, the Independent Water Commission, led by Sir Jon Cunliffe, has examined how to strengthen the regulation and delivery of water services to better support long-term water security, sustainable growth, and environmental protection. The Commission’s final report was published on 21 July 2025. The former Secretary of State provided an Oral Statement to Parliament in response to the final report on the same day. The government is immediately taking forward a number of Sir Jon’s recommendations and will end the era of water companies marking their own homework by ending operator self-monitoring and introduce Open Monitoring to increase transparency and help restore public trust. However, this is not the limit of our ambition and the government will respond to Sir Jon’s recommendations in full via a White Paper, published for consultation this autumn. A new water reform bill will also be introduced early this Parliament. If you would like to discuss issues around the Evenlode catchment, the EA’s Thames Area Director, Anna Burns, would be happy to meet with you. She can be contacted on AreaDirectorThames@environment-agency.gov.uk. Thank you for highlighting this important issue, I trust this response addresses your constituent’s concerns. Yours sincerely, EMMA HARDY MP |