Sewage spills by water firms have risen 29-fold over the last five years

Sewage spills by water firms have risen 29-fold over the past five years, official data reveals.

The number of times raw sewage has been dumped into rivers and lakes across the country has risen from 12,637 in 2016 to 372,533 last year, according to the Environment Agency.

The figures, obtained by Labour under freedom of information requests, also show that the duration of the spills have vastly increased over the same time period.

Five years ago, 100,533 hours worth of spills were recorded compared to 2,667,452 hours of spillages last year.

Jim McMahon, Labour’s shadow secretary of state for environment, food and rural affairs, accused water companies of “pumping filthy raw sewage onto our playing fields and into our waters”.

He added: “Labour will put a stop to this disgraceful practice by ensuring there can be enforcement of unlimited fines, holding water company bosses legally and financially accountable for their negligence, and by toughening up regulations that currently allow the system to be abused.”

Water companies are permitted to release sewage into waterways in exceptional circumstances during heavy rain, but have been found to be breaching regulations by dumping sewage routinely in dry weather.

A growing population as well as heavier and more frequent storms has led to excessive amounts of sewage getting dumped into other water sources, according to the Department for Food and Rural Affairs (Defra).

Defra said that the Environment Agency is “monitoring the current situation and supporting local authorities where needed”, adding that part of the increase shown in the figures is down to better monitoring from water companies over time.

It came as a senior water executive was criticised for saying it is up to the public to decide whether or not to swim in water where sewage has recently been released.

Katy Taylor from Southern Water told Good Morning Britain that the company was making public information about when and where sewage releases had taken place along the coast. “You then need to use your judgement on whether you feel it's safe to go swimming or not,” she said.

'Deeply dangerous' advice

More than 20 warnings against swimming in England were put out on Thursday by the Environment Agency, including eight in areas served by Southern Water after heavy rain and flooding this week.

Charity Surfers Against Sewage on Thursday warned against swimming in 64 locations across the UK.

Hugo Tagholm from the charity said the advice from Southern Water was “deeply dangerous”, adding: “This is not a joking matter to advise people to use their own judgement. Sewage can carry all sorts of pathogens that can cause mild illness, or make you more seriously ill. No water company executive should be advising people to use their own judgement when swimming in water that has been contaminated with sewage.”

Ofwat, the Environment Agency and water regulator, are investigating all water companies in England over potentially illegal sewage dumping, which could lead to unlimited fines.

An Environment Agency spokesperson said: “We publish daily pollution risk forecasts throughout the bathing season via the EA’s Swimfo website to indicate when bathing water quality may be temporarily reduced due to factors such as heavy rainfall, wind or the tide.

“The current risk of surface water flooding reinforces the need for robust action from water companies to reduce discharges from storm overflows. We are monitoring the current situation and supporting local authorities where needed.”