Information Commissioner urges water companies to ‘be transparent’ over sewage discharges | Water Industry

Water industry

ICO calls on companies to be as transparent as possible with customers about dumping waste into rivers

Mon 15 Jul 2024 12.14 BST

Water companies must be transparent with the public about data on sewage discharges, the UK’s Information Commissioner has warned.

John Edwards has written to water companies asking them to be as transparent as possible with their customers and asked them to disclose information on wastewater discharges every month.

Water companies have recently been uncooperative with data requests, refusing to reveal ratings and data on wastewater discharges.

The companies are in a monopoly position, meaning customers cannot switch suppliers if they are unhappy with the service. One of the few powers the public has is to request data on sewage discharges under freedom of information laws.

The true scale of sewage discharges into English rivers has been revealed for the first time thanks to data transparency laws.

In 2020, the Guardian reported that water companies discharged raw sewage into rivers on more than 200,000 occasions in 2019. The figures were obtained through environmental information requests and tracked discharges of sewage from storm drains into rivers across England by the nine water companies.

Last year, a record amount of human waste was dumped into waterways. In 2023, raw sewage was dumped into rivers and seas for more than 3.6 million hours, a 105% increase on the previous 12 months.

Edwards said: “My message to water companies is simple: be transparent. The public has no choice but to use our water companies, so they need to ensure they have full confidence in them. The current concerns about sewage pollution have shaken that confidence. So we are calling on them to be transparent about their operations to help restore that confidence. It is both their responsibility and their legal obligation.”

In May 2024, the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) issued decision notices to six water companies – Anglian Water, Severn Trent Water, South West Water, Northumbrian Water, United Utilities and Yorkshire Water – requiring them to disclose the start and end times of wastewater discharges.

David Black, chief executive of industry association Ofwat, said: “One of the prerequisites for building public trust is a culture of openness. Trust in the water sector is falling, which tells us that companies have a long way to go. They should be systematically embracing open data and being more open about sharing their plans and progress. And they shouldn’t wait to be pushed. Customers have paid companies to install monitoring devices and collect their data. They have a right to see what that means.”

Water companies have previously refused to release information about sewage spills while investigations into the leaks were ongoing. Recently, a court ruled that a legal exception, which states that disclosure would prejudice an investigation, did not apply to the information requested.

Edwards said: “In the past, water companies have argued that disclosure of information could harm ongoing investigations. It is now clear, following this court decision, that this defence should not stand in the way of transparency – just because information may be relevant to an ongoing investigation does not necessarily mean it cannot or should not be disclosed.”