Irish singer and environmental campaigner Feargal Sharkey has said the announcement by water companies in England of £10 billion (€11.5 billion) to fix frequent sewage spills into rivers and lakes is “not enough”, as he sharply criticised the companies’ apology to the public on Thursday.
Derry-born Mr Sharkey, who was lead singer of the Undertones but is now best known in Britain as a campaigner against pollution of waterways, said the cash announced by industry umbrella group Water UK “doesn’t actually exist”.
He said eventually it will become a burden for bill payers instead of investors, who have continued to reap large dividends in recent years from water companies whose creaking infrastructure has resulted in them releasing huge amounts of untreated human waste into waterways.
“It typifies the level of incompetence and the attitude in the industry,” said Mr Sharkey of the plan and apology by water companies.
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Water UK apologised to the British public on Thursday, on behalf of its member companies in England, for years of excessive dumping of sewage into waterways. Water companies, which are also responsible for sewer services, are allowed to release sewage when, for example, heavy rainwater runs into shores and threatens to back up the system.
However, data published online by the companies shows that sewage is often released during relatively dry periods, when rain should not be a factor. There were more than 300,000 sewage spills into waterways last year through overflow systems.
In October 2020, one spillage into the river Thames at Mogden, near Richmond, released 2 billion litres of raw sewage in two days, enough to fill 400 Olympic swimming pools.
[ Map showing extent of sewage released into Thames shocks many LondonersOpens in new window ]
“The message from the water and sewage industry today is clear: we are sorry. More should have been done to address the issue of spillages sooner and the public is right to be upset about the current quality of our rivers and beaches,” said Ruth Kelly, chair of Water UK.
English water companies have committed to spending an extra £10 billion over a decade to tackle the problem. However, campaigners have pointed out that any rise in customers bills to pay for it will have to be approved by regulators. Meanwhile, campaigners noted that about £1.4 billion was extracted in dividends by water company investors last year alone.
Mr Sharkey, who is known as a keen fly fisherman, has been one of the most high-profile critics of the water companies in England, where he lives, over the last four years. He said he had no intention of meeting any water company executives to discuss the problem, and instead encouraged them to simply take action.
“I have no need to spend an hour of my life with some chief executive to know what the problem is. Chalk streams are over-abstracted while all rivers are full of sewage. Just publish the strategy to fix it,” he told The Irish Times.
[ Raw sewage being discharged by 32 Irish towns into rivers and seas, EPA findsOpens in new window ]
