Water companies must be transparent with the public about sewage spill data, the UK’s information commissioner has warned.
John Edwards has written to the water companies calling on them to be as transparent as possible with their customers, and has asked them to disclose information related to sewage discharges every month.
Water companies have recently been uncooperative with data requests, refusing to reveal memos and data about sewage discharges.
The companies operate a monopoly, meaning customers cannot switch to another provider if they are unhappy with the service. One of the few powers the public has is to request data about sewage spills under freedom of information laws.
This is the best summary I could come up with:
John Edwards has written to the water companies calling on them to be as transparent as possible with their customers, and has asked them to disclose information related to sewage discharges every month.
The figures were obtained via environmental information requests, and traced releases of sewage from storm drains in rivers across England by all nine water companies.
The current concerns about sewage pollution have dented this confidence, so we’re calling on these companies to be open about their activities to help rebuild this trust.
David Black, the chief executive of the industry body Ofwat, said: “One of the prerequisites for building public trust is a culture of openness.
Water companies have previously refused to release information about sewage spills when there are investigations ongoing into the leaks.
It is now clear, following this tribunal ruling, that this defence should not stand in the way of transparency – just because information could be relevant to an ongoing investigation does not necessarily mean that it cannot or should not be released.”
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