England’s water and sewage companies have apologised for not “acting quickly enough” to tackle sewage spills.
They have faced mounting public anger over continued spilling of raw sewage into rivers and seas.
In 2022, raw sewage was dumped into rivers and seas for 1.75 million hours – or 825 times a day on average.
Campaigners welcomed the apology but said they would wait to see whether the promises delivered change.
The apology was made by Water UK, the industry body which represents England’s nine water and sewage companies.
Ruth Kelly, Water UK chair, told the BBC: “We’re sorry about the upset and the anger from the fact that there have been overspills of untreated sewage onto beaches and into rivers over the past few years. We’re sorry that we didn’t act sooner, and but we get it.”
Alongside the apology, the companies promised to triple funding available for sewer system upgrades, provide the public with “near real-time” data on sewage spills and cut spills by up to 35% by…
This article was written by and originally published on www.bbc.co.uk