Map exhibits the place sewage might spill as improve ‘not value useful’

Britain’s greatest beauty spots and most stunning waterways are being continually polluted by water companies who say it is ‘not cost beneficial’ to upgrade the network to prevent leakage in half of all cases, MailOnline can reveal.

In the last year alone, beauty spots in Cumbria, the Cotswolds, Cornwall and Sussex have all seen enormous sewage spills blighting the lives of residents and desecrating the natural environment.

Earlier this month, it was revealed million of litres of raw sewage had ‘illegally pumped’ into Lake Windermere in the Lake District after a fault.

The ‘shocking’ revelations today sparked fury with River Action UK founder Charles Watson saying it underpinned how the water industry was run to raise shareholder profits instead of for the public.

Data analysis by MailOnline shows water firms decided there was ‘no cost beneficial solution’ to prevent 280 discharge sites in England that, due to lack of capacity, pumped untreated sewage into rivers and seas for hundreds of hours last year.

The 280 sites across the country comprise 48 per cent of 582 offending sites – which discharged for a total of nearly 375,000 hours last year – where a decision on whether to resolve the issue or not has been made.

A decision has not been made on another 1,467 storm overflows which pumped raw sewage for hundreds of thousands of hours last year due to a lack of hydraulic capacity.

Another 50 storm overflows had a ‘potential spill reduction scheme’ identified, but this does not necessarily mean that this will happen, as at least 90 which had possible solutions identified in 2022 were deemed not cost beneficial the next year.

If the Environment Agency blames discharges on hydraulic capacity it means the sewer network cannot cope with ‘wastewater flow plus typical rainfall’.

This means the only way to resolve the problem is to upgrade the sewer network – such as pipe capacity – and treatment plants.

‘This data shows a profound and shocking insight into what the water industry believes its true purpose should be,’ River Action UK’s Charles Watson told MailOnline.

‘There can be no question that British Public are clearly bewildered as to how our rivers could ever have been allowed to become systemically so full of human excrement.

‘This analysis clearly gives us a very helpful clue in understanding the causes of the Great British Sewage Scandal. Basically, the underlying operating philosophy of our water companies has been “If it doesn’t stack up for us financially, then we won’t clean it up”.

‘If we ever wanted proof that our water industry has been driven by one clear motive – profit – then this is it. The notion that “cost-benefit” has been the principal historic driver of the decision-making process behind how the upgrade of our decrepit sewage infrastructure should be prioritised is as disgusting as what these companies have been dumping every day into our long-suffering rivers.’

As all of the sites included within the analysis are experiencing sewage overflows due to a lack of capacity which cannot cope with usual demand, the only way to fix these is by either upgrading or adding to existing infrastructure such as sewage treatment works and pipes.

A spokesperson for Water UK, which represents British water companies, said that ‘all water companies follow Environment Agency guidance’ when performing cost-benefit analyses on how to address excessive storm overflows.

The guidance ascribes monetary values to factors such as environmental impact. Works will only be carried out under the scheme if the benefit, expressed as a monetary value, outweighs the cost of development.

But there is room for interpretation in deciding what economic value to give certain factors where numbers are more difficult to measure, such as cleaner rivers leading to more recreational use and future house building.

Mr Watson also issued a warning on Wednesday about unsafe rivers and seas. He told Parliament’s Environmental Audit Committee on Wednesday, that he believes ‘someone is going to die’ from swimming in polluted water.

‘With half term a couple of weeks away and hundreds of thousands of families soon to be heading to our beaches, rivers and lakes – we are desperately worried about the human health risks posed by highly dangerous pathogens in the water,’ Mr Watson added.

‘We have just come out of a year which saw all-time record volumes of sewage was dumped by the water companies and our own testing has shown potentially deadly levels of E.Coli present in stretches of river which are much used by the public.

‘It is imperative that the Government gets on top of this scandal immediately and starts providing real time guidance to protect the public.’

When a storm overflow spills raw sewage more than 60 times in a year, an investigation is triggered to find the cause and once found, the water company has to record plans on how they plan to prevent future leaks.

Just 28 storm overflows in England have been placed onto the government ‘spill reduction scheme’ and 272 have had ‘other improvements’ to address the overflows.

The data shows that Yorkshire Water appears to not have engaged with the process at all for 458 sites, however, the firm says all storm overflows will be addressed to meet new requirements by 2050.

At the remaining 61 sites – which discharged nearly 30,000 hours of raw sewage last year – for which a decision was reached, the company said it was not cost beneficial to make improvements.

A Yorkshire Water spokesman told MailOnline: ‘As set out by the Storm Overflow Discharge Reduction Plan, water companies will be investing to ensure all overflows meet the new requirements by 2050. We’re currently investing £180m to reduce storm overflows across the region by April 2025 and have submitted plans for more than £1bn investment to make further reductions between 2025 and 2030.’

United Utilities said there was ‘no cost beneficial solution’ to improve network capacity for every single one of the 58 decisions it made when faced fixing with major leaks caused by lack of capacity.

This comes after the firm reportedly ‘illegally pumped’ millions of litres of raw sewage into Lake District beauty spot and Unesco World Heritage site Lake Windermere due to a telecoms fault.

Northumbrian Water said it was not cost beneficial to improve 94 (96% of decisions) storm overflows which discharged for nearly 37,000 hours last year.

Wessex Water did not make improvements to sewer network capacity due to cost at 39 sites (74% of decisions) which pumped untreated waste water for 12,823 hours last year. The firm has put 13 sites on a government spill reduction scheme.

Anglian Water decided against sewer upgrades due to costs at 15 sites (56% of decisions) last year, which spilled for nearly 7,500 hours. A further ten sites have been enrolled in a spill reduction scheme.

South West Water made ‘other improvements’ to 49 (79% of decisions) discharge points which had major leaks due to a lack of capacity.

The firm has come under fire this week after having to urge people to boil their tap water after hundreds were struck down with diarrhoea, vomiting and stomach pains in a seaside town in Devon due to an outbreak of Cryptosporidium, a water-borne parasite which is found in human and animal faeces.

Residents across Brixham, Boohay, Kingswear, Roseland and north-east Paignton are all being told to boil water as a precaution, including when drinking it or using it to cook with and brush teeth.

A Water UK spokesperson said: ‘We have a plan to ensure that every storm overflow in the country meets or exceeds Government targets.

‘Water companies want to invest £10 billion to cut spills by 40% by 2030 – more than twice what the Government has asked for.

‘As set out by the Storm Overflow Discharge Reduction Plan, water companies will be investing to ensure all overflows meet the new requirements by 2050.

‘We’re currently investing £180m to reduce storm overflows across the region by April 2025 and have submitted plans for more than £1bn investment to make further reductions between 2025 and 2030.’ 

This comes after MailOnline revealed that seven in ten major sewage leaks last year were caused by a lack of capacity and leaky pipes.

This was despite the water companies blaming wet weather for a record 3.6million hours of discharge last year.

Analysis of EA data by MailOnline showed that nearly 1.2million hours of raw sewage spills were caused by a insufficient hydraulic capacity – too few sewage works and pipes, the most common cause by far.

This is 48 per cent of the 2.46million hours of discharges at the nearly 3,500 overflow sites across England where an investigation has determined a main cause. A probe is triggered when more than 60 individual sewage spills are reported in one year.

Defra has been contacted for comment. 

An Environment Agency spokesperson said: ‘It is for water companies to assess the operation and impact of their storm overflows on the environment, to improve them and make sure they are operating within their permits.

‘100% of storm overflows now monitored and we’re bolstering our regulation with a fourfold increase in water company inspections this year, to hold companies to account, and new uncapped civil penalties allowing us to take swifter action against those who pollute.’