THE government was accused of “washing its hands” of the sewage scandal today after it announced new legislation on regulators.
The Water (Special Measures) Bill gives increased powers to Ofwat and the Environment Agency to tackle polluting firms and fine them automatically, without undertaking lengthy probes.
The duration of sewage spills more than doubled last year to 3.6 million hours.
Powers will also include the threat of prison for water bosses who fail to co-operate or obstruct investigations. Regulators can also ban them from receiving bonuses if they fail to meet certain standards to protect the environment.
But the Bill, introduced to Parliament today, has met criticism.
Charles Watson, founder of River Action, said: “If the Secretary of State believes that the few one-off actions announced today, such as curtailing bosses bonuses – however appealing they may sound –are going to fix the underlying causes of our poisoned waterways, then he needs to think again.
“Only a comprehensive and holistic review focusing on all sources of pollution and that delivers a transformational action plan, with tangible targets and milestones, can reform our failed regulatory system and end the daily polluting of our rivers, lakes and seas.”
Matthew Topham, lead campaigner at anti-privatisation group We Own It, said the Bill suggests the government is “simply washing its hands of the sewage scandal, pushing households, our rivers, and our seas to pick up the tab.
“It leaves regulators set to sign off a bill-payer bailout of water company shareholders, with the public’s money used to clean up a financial and ecological mess not of our making.
“The powers announced read like a greatest hits list of policies that have been tried before and fell short due to the regulator’s dual duty to protect water shareholders and users, and the ability of far wealthier firms to run rings around their overseers.”
Mr Topham called on Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer to revoke licenses from failing water companies and take them into public ownership for free using his special administration powers.
Announcing the Bill at the Thames Rowing Club in Putney, Environment Secretary Steve Reed argued against nationalistion, saying it would take “years to unpick the current ownership model, leaving sewage pollution in the meantime to get worse and halt the much needed investment.”
Environmental activist and singer Feargal Sharkey told Sky News, “We don’t need new regulations, we don’t need new laws, we’ve got 35 years’ worth of laws that have never been applied – you should force them (the regulators) to go out and apply the law as it stands today, that would have been a massive step forward."
He said that “for 20 years” existing laws have allowed for company directors to receive “unlimited fines” for “that kind of environment vandalism.
“I cannot find a single example of any company director ever prosecuted, ever being fined a penny,” Mr Sharkey added.
