The U turn by the Government on pumping raw sewage into the UK’s rivers and seas is not quite what it seems. Apparently from now on there will be “a duty enshrined in law to ensure water companies secure a progressive reduction in the adverse impacts of discharges from storm overflows.”
It is not that you could ride a coach and horses through this obligation, you could get the carriage between almost every word. Ensure, secure, progressive, adverse, impacts and storm overflows; all are meaningless enough to mean that if the water companies want to, they can pump as much raw sewage out as they want.
Water companies were privatised with no debt in the quaint belief that they would then borrow and invest in the water network. Instead they have done what capitalist monopolies do; fight regulation, under invest, pay huge dividends, screw their customers and rig the system in their favour.
They have been caught pumping unprocessed sewage into the water system again and again, at any excuse and none, just to save money on actually doing their job properly. They then escape fines by claiming it would hit investment, what a joke!
A Brexit induced shortage of chemicals is just the latest excuse.
This U turn will do nothing, the government is letting them get away with it again and they are laughing all the way to the bank.
Economics, trade and Brexit, not necessarily in that order but the dog always comes first.
Thanks for this. I had indeed thought that there’d been a bit of a U turn but hadn’t seen the details. This kind of rhetorical nonsense has been one of the great problems of political life… forever😩