Water Firms Are Being Called Out For Upping Bills To Fix Their Sewage Spills

"These people are laughing at you."
A ruptured sewage pipe spills waste into a stream last February, in Saltburn-by-the-Sea, England.
A ruptured sewage pipe spills waste into a stream last February, in Saltburn-by-the-Sea, England.
Ian Forsyth via Getty Images

Water companies responsible for pumping sewage into England’s waterways are going to be hiking up customers’ bills to pay for its clean-up operation – and Twitter is not having it.

It’s no secret that a lot of sewage has been pumped into England’s seas and rivers in recent years, but public outrage over the issue peaked last summer following a period of heavy rainfall.

Only in March, the Environment Agency found that across 2022 that there were 301,091 sewage spills, working out to an average of 824 per day.

Water companies have now finally apologised.

Water UK, which represents 25 companies, said: “The message from the water and sewage industry today is clear: we are sorry. More should have been done to address the issue of spillages sooner and the public is right to be upset about the current quality of our rivers and beaches.”

Companies have promised to invest £10 billion in this decade by modernising the sewer system in the largest overhaul since “the Victorian era” – and that’s on top of the £3.1 billion being spent on the issue between 2020 and 2025.

New facilities will be built to hold surges in rainwater, increase sewage capacity and measures to reduce rainfall entering sewers and fixing misconnecting pipes, with an online hub to keep the public updated on sewage spills to be launched next year.

This is meant to reduce overflow incidents by up to 140,000 per year by 2030 in comparison to 2020, according to Water UK.

And while shareholders will offer the initial funding, customer bills are going to climb, too – although the exact details of this expected increase need to be decided by regulators.

This comes after water bosses who oversaw the leaks and sewage dumps got a 20% pay rise last August.

Consumer groups already called out increases to England’s water bills in February when they crept up by 7.5%, at a time when one in five customers were already struggling to pay due to the cost of living crisis.

So, it’s no surprise that Twitter was fuming.

Last week, a Tory minister said that it would take 25 years for water companies to clean up their acts.

25 years, while they extract billions of pounds annually from customers for shareholder profit and debt servicing.

These people are laughing at you. https://t.co/FEYkgsSQLI

— Ash Sarkar (@AyoCaesar) May 18, 2023

Water companies have generously agreed to start fixing the sewage problem by borrowing money and letting us pay it back through higher bills.

— Parody Rishi Sunak (@Parody_PM) May 18, 2023

Why are we letting water companies put these costs on consumers? Why not force shareholders - who have enjoyed staggering profits for decades - to foot the bill? Totally craven. https://t.co/bilun2WtHJ

— Jo Maugham (@JolyonMaugham) May 18, 2023

In other news, water companies paid out £1.4bn in dividends to shareholders last year, while reporting year-on-year bonus increases of 20%. https://t.co/NF6iUgwz0S

— Adam Bienkov (@AdamBienkov) May 18, 2023

After dumping sewage in seas, chemically polluting rivers, failing to upgrade Victorian pipes & handing huge dividends to shareholders, all water firms have to offer is “sorry - oh by the way we’re putting your bills up”. What a shitshow. @Feargal_Sharkeyhttps://t.co/6YF97v6gI5

— Caroline Lucas (@CarolineLucas) May 18, 2023

That UK water companies apology. pic.twitter.com/fvZhUwifW8

— The Poke (@ThePoke) May 18, 2023

£50bn required to update water infrastructure. That’s roughly the same sum the water companies raised through debt since privatisation - which we’re paying for - not to invest in infrastructure but to pay dividends to shareholders. Now they want us to pay again. What a load of… pic.twitter.com/sWExRtCono

— Richard Coles (@RevRichardColes) May 18, 2023
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