Wessex Water discharged sewage into water bodies 52,488 times, while their executives took home £3.7 million in remuneration.

14 November 2022

Wessex Water has discharged sewage into rivers and lakes 52,488 times in the last two years, lasting 387,583 hours in total.

Meanwhile, Wessex Water’s top executives took home £3.7 million in remuneration including £1.4 million in bonuses, benefits and incentives over the last two years.

The levels of sewage discharges into Bath and North East Somerset’s rivers and lakes are colossal, with Wessex Water dumping sewage 3,457 times lasting 13,525 hours in 2021.

Twenty-eight storm overflows went unmonitored by Wessex Water during 2021 due to no monitor being installed. Wera Hobhouse, MP for Bath, is calling for them to be stopped while the Conservative’s have voted again and again to let water companies keep dumping their filthy sewage.

Under current plans, water companies will be allowed to keep dumping sewage until 2050, while they’re planning to increase people’s water bills by £5 a month, until 2090. This leaves consumers to pay the price for water companies polluting our rivers.

Liberal Democrats are calling for an end to sewage discharges, and it’s the water companies that should pay for it. They would implement a sewage tax to clean up our rivers and a ban on bonuses for sewage bosses until discharges end.

Wera Hobhouse, MP for Bath, commented:

“Sadly, putting profits over planet has become the status quo. This is unacceptable.

“Water companies must be regulated properly to prevent any more catastrophic biodiversity loss.

“Local people should be able to visit and swim in local water bodies without fear, and individuals near rivers and lakes should not have to face the increasing worry of their homes being flooded by dirty water.

“The Government is completely failing to tackle this issue. They must step up quickly before any more irreparable damage is inflicted on our water.”