, South Shropshire’s
Conservatives Parliamentary Candidate, has welcomed a £41 million
investment by Severn Trent to prevent an estimated 2,500 sewage
spills from polluting local waterways. The fast-tracked
improvements will be delivered by April 2025, after the
Government directed water and sewage companies last December to
measurably reduce sewage spills over the next year.
Having been an early supporter of MP’s Bill to clean up our
rivers and waterways, Stuart welcomed the fast-tracked
investment. Key parts of Dunne’s Bill were adopted by Government
through the Environment Act 2021, which required it to publish a
discharge reduction plan. This plan is the first such plan by any
government and sets stringent, time-bound targets that the water
industry must meet to progressively reduce sewage spills from
storm overflows - including to ensure that no storm overflow
is discharging due to a lack of operational maintenance by 1st
December 2024.
These stringent targets will prevent hundreds of thousands of
sewage spills every year and requires water companies to deliver
the largest infrastructure programme in water company history –
£56 billion capital investment over 25 years. Stuart welcomed the
accelerated funding from Severn Trent, one of several companies
making new commitments overall totalling £180 million to prevent
more than 8,000 spills. It is addition to existing £3.1
billion investment between 2020 and 2025 to deliver an average
25% reduction in sewage spills by 2025, complementing companies’
ongoing annual investment to maintain the performance of the
existing network.
The £41 million funding by Severn Trent will see more investment
in cutting-edge technology and specialists to detect and reduce
spills. This includes investment in AI systems to manage storm
load by automatically adjusting water levels in storage tanks. It
also includes the installation of Event Duration Monitoring
(EDM) dual monitors, which provide them with much more
information about where and when storm overflows are
occurring, to provide a back-up data source. Severn Trent
will also recruit staff and improve equipment in waste
network teams, double the number of Network Technicians; and
invest more in asset improvement. In January 2024, the Government
announced a fourfold increase in water company inspections by
March 2025 to drive the improved performance that the public
rightly expect to see.
said:“I welcome
this £41 million accelerated investment, being fast-tracked by
Severn Trent, to prevent thousands of sewage spills. It will
see the latest equipment deployed and more technical staff
employed to identify and prevent spills. MP has been a formidable
campaigner for more investment in this area and I was proud to be
an early supporter of his Bill to clean up our rivers and
waterways – which was adopted by the Government and has resulted
in us becoming the first Government to set out a clear
expectation that water companies must take reduce storm
overflows, driven by £56 billion capital investment by water
companies over 25 years. If elected as South Shropshire’s
next MP, I will continue Philip’s great work - pushing for
further investment to make a significant impact locally, helping
to clean up our waterways and deliver plentiful supply for
future generations.”
Environment Secretary said: “The
amount of sewage being spilled into our rivers is completely
unacceptable and the public rightly expects action. This £180
million of accelerated investment, which will stop more than
8,000 sewage spills over the next year, is a welcome step forward
as we continue to push for better performance from water
companies and hold them to account. This money will mean more
cutting-edge technology, including artificial intelligence, and
more specialist staff to detect and reduce spills. Today’s
announcement builds on significant work by this government to
protect and strengthen our waters with increased investment,
stronger regulation and tougher enforcement action.”
