Select committee: Environmental Audit Committee
Recommendation 35
Fourth Report - Water quality in rivers
Published 13 Jan 2022
Paragraph 191
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)
We note that the Environment Agency does not consider any use of storm overflows to be a pollution incident: discharges from overflows are classed as permitted discharges as long as they comply with the terms of the relevant permit. This is unlikely to incentivise overall reductions in discharges. We recommend that the 124 Water quality in rivers Environment Agency reclassify significant sewage spills from storm overflows into watercourses in dry weather as pollution incidents, irrespective of permit compliance.
From: Environmental Audit Committee, Fourth Report - Water quality in rivers (HC 74), paragraph 191, 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".