Bill C-405 sought to make these changes, but I'm not sure what happened.

www.parl.ca/documentview...

Perhaps someone can explain why this effort failed and what we should do next time to get this fixed?

Key point: Facts and figures above quoted from an online search this morning, so do your own research and independently validate everything, always!

#cdnpoli #ukpoli
#politics #publicpolicy
#progressive
#UKpolitics #Canadianpolitics
#socialjustice #economy #democarcy

Underinvestment: Industry insiders and reports indicate that companies have underinvested in infrastructure for decades, contributing to the problem.

Since privatisation, around £74.2 billion has been paid out in dividends to shareholders in England and Wales.

QED

However, investigations have revealed that companies have also discharged illegally in dry weather.

Systemic Issue: The UK's combined sewage system (mixing rainwater and wastewater) means that during heavy rainfall, treatment works can be overwhelmed, leading to legal discharges via storm overflows to prevent sewage backing up into homes.

Data Limitations: Historically, monitoring equipment was not designed to measure volumes, and full real-time monitoring of all overflow sites across the industry only began recently (all sites were monitored for the first time in 2024).

This is the equivalent of 412 continuous years of sewage pollution.

Thames Water alone was responsible for pumping at least 72 billion litres of sewage into the River Thames between 2020 and 2022. This figure is considered an underestimate because not all sites were monitored for volume.

Data on the duration of sewage spills is available for recent years. Some volume estimates exist for specific periods.

Total Spill Hours (Recent Data): Water companies released raw sewage into England's rivers and seas for a record 3.6 million hours in 2024, a slight increase on 2023 figures.

It is impossible to provide a single, exact figure for the total volume of sewage poured into the Thames and other UK waterways since privatisation in 1989 because comprehensive volume monitoring across all overflow points has only been required relatively recently.

Since privatization in 1989, the UK has been pouring sewer into the Thames at volumes not seen since the great stink of 1858 and the resulting Victorian era works cleaning up the Thames by 1875.