Sewage released into England’s rivers and seas nearly 300,000 times last year | Water

Raw sewage was discharged into rivers and seas almost 300,000 times last year, following the driest spring in more than 100 years and the sunniest and hottest year on record in England.

Water companies discharged wastewater from storm overflows – designed for use in extremely wet weather conditions – into rivers and seas 291,492 times. This is a 35% reduction from the record spills recorded in 2024. Average releases were 20.5 spills for each overflow, compared to 31.8 the previous year.

The duration of raw sewage discharges into waterways has more than halved to 1.8 million hours, from a peak of almost 4 million hours in 2024. Some water companies have recorded reductions of more than 60% and 70% compared to the previous year, according to figures released by the Environment Agency (EA) on Thursday.

Despite the drought conditions across the country, raw sewage was discharged for almost a million hours longer than in 2018, underscoring the impact of a failure to invest in long-term infrastructure, campaigners said. However, the excesses were then much less monitored.

Discharges of raw sewage from storm overflows should only occur under extraordinary conditions, such as very heavy rainfall or storms. In 2025, parts of England were hit by drought for several months and four water companies imposed a ban on garden hoses.

Richard Benwell, chief executive of Wildlife and Countryside Link, a group of 66 environmental charities, said that despite the dry weather, raw sewage was still being dumped almost 300,000 times.

“When sewage is flowing, even in a dry year, you really know the system is broken,” Benwell said. “These are not stormwater overflows; they are all-weather drains. Rivers, lakes and seas should not be pressure valves for pollution. There is too much sewage in our waters.”

“This is what systemic failure looks like: multiple sources of pollution, weak oversight, and no single agency taking responsibility for the health of our waters. »

Michelle Walker, technical director of the Rivers Trust, said dumping raw sewage almost 300,000 times in drought conditions was in many cases illegal and extremely harmful to the environment and the public.

“We expected a decrease in the number of untreated wastewater discharges in 2025, as it was a very dry year, but this should not be confused with progress,” Walker said. “There are too many [discharges] will occur in dry weather and will therefore be illegal.

“The impact of these discharges will be even worse when rivers run out of water. Each discharge will be more concentrated, more damaging and more dangerous to already stressed ecosystems. At the same time, more people will head to rivers and seas to cool off on hot days, directly endangering public health.”

The industry acknowledged on Thursday that dry conditions had contributed to a reduction in raw sewage dumped into rivers and seas. But water companies said the results were also the result of record levels of investment in the system, after the government imposed targets. A £104 billion investment by water companies is being funded by rising customer bills, with the average bill increasing by 36% over five years.

Water UK, the industry body, said: “Sewage spills are horrible and we are working to put an end to them as quickly as possible. Although dry weather in 2025 will have led to fewer spills, we are also starting to see the effect of a tripling of investment by water companies. By building larger storm reservoirs and increasing the capacity of wastewater treatment plants, we will cut spills in half over the next five years.

The EA said much of the reduction was due to dry weather and stressed that sustained maintenance and investment in the water industry’s drainage networks was needed to make lasting improvements.

Water Minister Emma Hardy said: “It’s good to see that storm overflows are down since the previous year, but there is still an unacceptable amount of sewage entering our waterways and a long way to go to clean up our rivers, lakes and seas. »

In Yorkshire, where the water company was downgraded to two stars due to rising pollution incidents, the summer was so dry that a ban on garden hoses was imposed for five months.

Karen Shackleton, of the Ilkley Clean River Group, said: “Today’s report creates a cover for the water companies’ illegal pollution and neglect of our infrastructure. Last year’s figures, in drought conditions, put us back to the level of pollution we had two or three years ago in normal weather. This is not good news. Yorkshire Water is still polluting illegally and the Government is still not holding them to account.”

South West Water, with 860 miles (1,380 km) of coastline, discharged raw sewage for the longest period, 407,000 hours, in 2025, followed by United Utilities (327,000 hours) and Yorkshire Water (285,000 hours).

Thames Water, which has been on the brink of collapse for more than two years as it struggles under the weight of £17.6 billion of debt, discharged raw sewage for 107,000 hours.

A South West Water spokesperson said: “The South West experienced 62% more rain than the rest of England in 2025. Despite this, we still reduced storm overflow discharges by 17% and the duration of spills by 25%.

“We have also avoided more than 8,300 spills through operational improvement, with a focus on beaches during the bathing season – a clear sign that our £760m investment plan is already delivering strong results. There is more to do, but the direction is clear: fewer spills, shorter durations and investment where it matters most.”