{"id":277130,"date":"2025-07-20T10:38:14","date_gmt":"2025-07-20T10:38:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/277130\/"},"modified":"2025-07-20T10:38:14","modified_gmt":"2025-07-20T10:38:14","slug":"labour-vows-to-make-britains-rivers-cleanest-on-record-by-halving-sewage-pollution","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/277130\/","title":{"rendered":"Labour vows to make Britain\u2019s rivers cleanest on record by halving sewage pollution"},"content":{"rendered":"

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Labour will leave Britain with the cleanest rivers on record<\/a> by cutting sewage pollution from water firms in half by 2030, the environment secretary<\/a> will say. <\/p>\n

Steve Reed<\/a> will promise on Sunday to make the UK\u2019s rivers the cleanest since records began<\/a> with a \u00a3104bn investment to rebuild the country\u2019s crumbling sewage pipes.<\/p>\n

Mr Reed will also roll out a set of strict new rules to slash pollution<\/a> and a \u201croot and branch\u201d overhaul of the way water companies are regulated. <\/p>\n

\"Environment<\/p>\n

open image in gallery<\/p>\n

Environment secretary Steve Reed (right) and energy security and net zero secretary Ed Miliband (left) are joined by Jeremy Biggs of the Freshwater Habitats Trust during a visit to the Ock and Thame Farmers floodplain restoration project, in South Hinksey, Oxfordshire (Jonathan Brady\/PA Wire)<\/p>\n

With a landmark report into the industry being published on Monday, the environment secretary is to promise families across the country cleaner beaches and healthier rivers. <\/p>\n

Speaking to the BBC\u2019s Sunday with Laura Kuenssberg, Mr Reed said Labour would unleash a \u201cwater revolution\u201d in response to Sir Jon\u2019s review. <\/p>\n

He said leaky pipes and crumbling infrastructure has cost taxpayers tens of billions of pounds, promising the party would look to eliminate sewage pollution in rivers completely by 2035.<\/p>\n

And, amid speculation Ofwat is to be scrapped, he said the water regulator \u201chas failed everyone\u201d.<\/p>\n

Mr Reed said: \u201cI’m making an absolute commitment, and I’m committed to delivering it.<\/p>\n

“My intention, assuming I’m lucky enough to still be in the same job in five years’ time, I would love to sit here with you then and point to places like Windermere and see how much cleaner they are than today.”<\/p>\n

Asked whether he would put his job on the line, he said: “Politicians come and say we’re going to do things. Of course our job should be on the line if we don’t.”<\/p>\n

Labour\u2019s reforms will mark the first time ministers have set a clear target for reducing sewage pollution against which they can be judged at the next election. <\/p>\n

The package is also aimed at reducing phosphorus from treated wastewater by half by 2028 \u2013 the pollutant causes algae blooms, which are harmful to wildlife.<\/p>\n

The pledge comes as the government faces public disgust over record sewage spills and rising bills, while tasked with turning around the poor governance of debt-ridden water firms.<\/p>\n

Mr Reed said: \u201cFamilies have watched their local rivers, coastlines and lakes suffer from record levels of pollution.<\/p>\n

\u201cMy pledge to you: the government will halve sewage pollution from water companies by the end of the decade.\u201d<\/p>\n

It comes ahead of Monday morning\u2019s publication of the Independent Water Commission\u2019s landmark review into the ailing water sector.<\/p>\n

The commission was set up by the UK and Welsh governments as part of their response to systemic failures in the industry, although ministers have ruled out nationalising companies.<\/p>\n

The government will respond to the recommendations in parliament on Monday.<\/p>\n

\"The<\/p>\n

open image in gallery<\/p>\n

The Independent Water Commission’s landmark review into the ailing water sector is set to be revealed on Monday morning (PA Wire)<\/p>\n

On Friday, the Environment Agency<\/a> revealed that serious pollution incidents caused by water firms across England increased by 60 per cent last year, compared with 2023.<\/p>\n

The watchdog said companies recorded a total of 2,801 pollution incidents in 2024, up from 2,174 in 2023.<\/p>\n

Of these, 75 were categorised as posing \u201cserious or persistent\u201d harm to wildlife and human health, up from 47 last year.<\/p>\n

Ministers have vowed a \u201croot and branch reform\u201d to the industry and have introduced a package of measures over the last year to cut pollution levels.<\/p>\n

They have banned bonuses for 10 bosses this year and threatened prison sentences for law-breaking executives.<\/p>\n

The government has also hailed plans for \u00a3104bn of investment into upgrading crumbling pipes and building new treatment works, as well as ringfencing consumer bills for upgrades instead of companies using money for shareholder payouts of executive bonuses.<\/p>\n

Meanwhile, the Environment Agency has received a record \u00a3189m to support hundreds of enforcement officers for inspections and prosecutions, with fines from companies footing the increase in funding.<\/p>\n

Ministers hope this will help to reach the newly announced targets on sewage pollution, which can cause harm to swimmers, loss of aquatic life, and the destruction of ecosystems.<\/p>\n

\u201cOne of the largest infrastructure projects in England\u2019s history will clean up our rivers, lakes and seas for good,\u201d Mr Reed said.<\/p>\n

The new pledge also includes working with devolved governments to ban wet wipes containing plastic across the UK, continued work on pre-pipe measures, such as sustainable drainage systems, and the start of trials by water companies of nature-based solutions, such as constructed wetlands.<\/p>\n

It comes alongside the storm overflow discharge reduction plan, which has set targets on reducing spills, including a 75 per cent reduction in discharging into high-priority sites, such as rare chalk streams, by 2035.<\/p>\n

There is an already existing statutory target to reduce phosphorus loadings from treated wastewater by 80 per cent by 2038 against a 2020 baseline, as well as an interim goal of a 50 per cent reduction by the end of January 2028 under the environmental improvement plan.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Your support helps us to tell the story From reproductive rights to climate change to Big Tech, The…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":277131,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5018,3,4],"tags":[748,393,4884,1144,712,16,15,1764],"class_list":{"0":"post-277130","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-britain","8":"category-uk","9":"category-united-kingdom","10":"tag-britain","11":"tag-england","12":"tag-great-britain","13":"tag-northern-ireland","14":"tag-scotland","15":"tag-uk","16":"tag-united-kingdom","17":"tag-wales"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/114885132748270361","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/277130","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=277130"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/277130\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/277131"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=277130"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=277130"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=277130"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}