Select committee: Environmental Audit Committee
Recommendation 20
Fourth Report - Water quality in rivers
Published 13 Jan 2022
Paragraph 128
Environmental Audit Committee Water Quality in Rivers All items in this report Report on parliament.uk ↗ Inquiry on parliament.uk ↗
Recommendation (the committee's words)
The sewage sludge currently spread on agricultural land contains microplastics which have been caught in the wastewater treatment process. It may also contain e-coli, antibiotics, biocides, persistent chemical pollutants and pharmaceuticals. This practice appears to be the principal means of disposal of biosolids from such processes. If it is to continue, a means must be found to ensure that the microplastics 122 Water quality in rivers which find their way in to waste water are disposed of safely and not spread over food-growing farmland thereby polluting productive soils. The Government should commission an independent evaluation of the potential risks to human health and the environment of spreading sewage sludge, with all the pollutants it contains, on farmland.
From: Environmental Audit Committee, Fourth Report - Water quality in rivers (HC 74), paragraph 128, 13 January 2022
Government response
The government responded to the whole report on 16 May 2022 (deadline 13 March 2022).
Summary written by Accountability Index from the government's response. It is not the government's own words.The government welcomes the report and says it agrees there is "more to do", accepting many recommendations, declining some, and deferring others to consultations, reviews and future plans.
- On sewage monitoring, it "does not accept" the recommendation to install volume monitors at all overflow points, saying volume measurement is "limited by technical feasibility and cost" and "requires further consideration".
- It "does not agree" that planning authorities should adopt a broad policy against farming infrastructure, and "does not agree" that permitting is "normally an appropriate risk management response" for highway drains.
- On highways outfalls, National Highways "agrees to set out its plans" by the end of the 2022/23 financial year for how high-risk locations could be mitigated by 2030, but says it is "not possible to make a commitment" on funding at this time.
- On sentencing for water pollution offences, the independent Sentencing Council "will consider the recommendation in due course", and any changes to guidelines would be "subject to public consultation".