The data is from the ten water and sewerage companies (WaSCs) operating in England, and contains information on how storm overflows have operated and for how long they discharged into the environment. This is the third year that the data has been reported annually.
READ MORE: MAPPED - The storm overflows that spilled sewage 301,091 times in 2022
The latest data sees a 34% reduction in the number of hours sewage spilled for in England in 2021, however the Environment Agency has attributed this to a year with lower than average rainfall rather than any actions by water companies.
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The data also shows that 301,091 monitored spill events were recorded in 2022. This is the equivalent of around 830 spills a day. This is a 19% reduction on the previous year.
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The data shows that the average number of spills per storm overflow in 2022 was 23, compared to 29 in 2021. It also reveals that 3% of storm overflows spilled more than 100 times, compared to 5% in 2021; and 18% of storm overflows did not spill at all, compared to 13% in 2021.
The water company with the highest number of spills recorded in 2022 was United Utilities at 69,245, followed by Yorkshire Water at 54,273 and then Severn Trent Water came in third at 44,765.
United Utilities has seen a year on year decrease in spills since 2020, however it has had the highest number of spills out of all ten water companies consistently.
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Thames Water had the highest average duration per monitored spill event in 2022 at 9.3 hours. It has had the highest average of all ten water companies since 2020, although it has seen a year-on-year decrease.
Southern Water had the second highest average duration per monitored spill event in 2022 at 8.8 hours, which is higher than its average in 2021 at 8.4 hours. South West Water had the third highest average in 2022, at 7.7 hours.
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An additional 110 storm overflows were recorded in 2022, taking the total number to 14,580. These were not reported in 2021, which was the first year it became a requirement for all storm overflows operated by WaSC to be reported, regardless of whether EDM was currently installed.
Water minister Rebecca Pow said: “The volume of sewage being discharged into our waters is unacceptable and we are taking action to make sure polluters are held to account.”
She noted that in 2010 only 7% of storm overflows were fitted with EDM devices. Now 91% are equipped with EDM devices, bringing the total to 14,680 storm overflows.
Izzy Ross, campaigns manager at Surfers Against Sewage, said “Once again, the data speaks for itself: throughout 2022 water companies continued to pour sewage into our rivers and seas with indefensible frequency.
“Meanwhile over the same period these companies doled out a combined total of £1 billion to their shareholders. These are the same companies that have continually failed to invest in upgrading the UK’s outdated sewage infrastructure.
“Their negligence is unparalleled, and the people and wildlife of the UK are suffering the consequences.”
Earlier this month, Ofwat has determined that water companies will have to take their environmental performance into account when considering whether to pay out shareholder dividends, under new measures due to come into effect later this year.
On March 29 Ofwat also opened a consultation on measures to ensure customers do not fund performance related executive pay awards if a company is unable to demonstrate that their decisions reflect Ofwat’s expectations.