Sewage monitoring requirements watered down

The nationwide programme to enhance the monitoring of sewage releases has been watered down, after companies raised cost concerns relating to the government’s plan.

In the Environment Act 2021, the government introduced a requirement for sewerage undertakers to monitor all sewerage assets and the impact they have on their local environment. This included publishing data from event duration monitors (EDMs) in near real time.

However, following pushback from water industry representatives the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra) has announced that the new monitoring mandate will no longer apply to storm overflows which have fewer than 10 spills per year over a five-year average.

To put that into context, the average number of discharges per storm overflow was 23 in 2022. In total, 301,091 monitored spill events were recorded by 10 wastewater companies in England and Wales during 2022.

The government’s consultation response adds that 47% of respondents called for “low risk, or low spillage areas” to be exempt from the enhanced monitoring programme, “noting the potential for significant cost saving”.

It adds: “Respondents suggest sites that demonstrate less than five or 10 spills over a year would be able to be deprioritised. 33% of responses mentioned prioritisation based on risk factors.

“Respondents suggested various ways to prioritise site including frequency of spill events, cost and site conservation importance. Cost and risk balance were cited by 27% of respondents as an important consideration.”

Not all respondents agreed, however, with 30% arguing that there should be no exemptions from the programme and that “it should be possible to put monitoring in place at all sites”.

In total, 40 respondents submitted evidence as part of the consultation including submissions from academics, industry representatives, environmental non-governmental organisations and companies that produce supply chain monitoring technologies.

The change also means that smaller treatment works with descriptive consents will no longer be included in the programme.

Defra has also updated the monitoring programme’s technical guidance to focus on priority sites.

“In order to have the quickest possible impact in its initial rollout, water companies will be able to prioritise sites across the first five years of the programme to focus on high spilling assets and higher priority sites,” the consultation response adds. “This will also allow for water companies to trial technology, take localised approaches and report learnings back to Defra.”

Water companies will be required to have completed rollout of 25% of all sites by 2030, Defra’s response adds: “This initial rollout should focus on high priority sites. We expect most water companies should be able to install monitors at 50% of high priority sites within the envelope of a 25% rollout of the total programme.”

Defra said this will be reviewed in 2027, during the review of the Storm Overflows Discharge Reduction Plan.

The changes to the plan have been met with mixed reaction with the prioritisation of sites widely welcomed but the exemptions met with resistance.

Simon Tilbury, of fly-fishing supplier The Farlows Group, said: “I’m all for prioritising sites that are more problematic in order to have the biggest impact on initial rollout. But ultimately there needs to be monitoring in place at all sites, and a plan put in place over a short but achievable period of time to make that happen. It can and needs to be done.

“Water companies have shown they can’t be trusted. These changes are indeed a watering down of monitoring requirements, dressed up as a means of reducing the cost to the bill payers.”

Meanwhile, director of operations at Stormwater Shepherds Jo Bradley said the exemptions were “justifiable”. However, she said that “it remains essential that small treatment works with descriptive consents are closely monitored as they have the capacity to cause significant pollution”.

She added: “That does not justify the use of expensive monitoring equipment necessitating routine maintenance visits; the carbon footprint and disturbance associated with that at remote sites would be disproportionate. Regular site visits, and visual inspection of the receiving watercourse by an experienced, local practitioner is often adequate.

“However, this begs the question, who is applying these controls to small sewage treatment works that are operated privately? Package sewage treatment plants at rural gastro-pubs are notoriously tricky to manage and can cause extensive pollution, but they are not included in this new regime. Once again, it feels as if the water companies are being targeted and other polluters are going under the radar.”

Environment Agency data shows that 3% of CSOs spilled more than 100 times last year, which was down from 5% compared to 2021. Meanwhile, 18% did not spill at all.

Earlier this year, Ofwat announced that water companies will be hit with fines for failing to adequately monitor storm overflows.