The environment secretary has told water companies in England that they will no longer be able to monitor and report on pollution from their own treatment works.
Steve Barclay told the privatised industry he would put an end to operator self-monitoring in a toughening of the regulatory approach.
The system, which has been criticised for allowing water companies to “mark their own homework”, was introduced more than 10 years ago, ending the practice by which Environment Agency officials carried out all the testing of treatment works and sewage discharges.
Water companies were allowed to do their own testing of treated effluent to make sure it met the legal requirements of their permits, as well as monitoring their releases of raw sewage via storm overflows.
There’s definitely an election coming up, isn’t there.
He “would” do it, if he gets reelected, and if someone would actually hold him to his word.
This is the best summary I could come up with:
The system, which has been criticised for allowing water companies to “mark their own homework”, was introduced more than 10 years ago, ending the practice by which Environment Agency officials carried out all the testing of treatment works and sewage discharges.
Water companies were allowed to do their own testing of treated effluent to make sure it met the legal requirements of their permits, as well as monitoring their releases of raw sewage via storm overflows.
The Guardian revealed recently that the Environment Agency was failing to regularly audit water companies to check they are telling the truth about pollution and illegal sewage discharges.
Peter Hammond, who in evidence to MPs said that illegal sewage discharges by water companies were at least 10 times higher than monitoring figures suggest, has been calling for an end to operator self-monitoring for years, saying it is routinely abused.
Steve Reed, the shadow environment secretary, said: “Labour has long demanded the end of self-monitoring of sewage discharges, which allows water companies to cover up what’s really going on.
A government spokesperson said: “The environment secretary has been clear that he wants to reduce the levels of self-monitoring that were introduced in 2009 by bringing in significantly more EA inspections and spot checks of water company asset, including through forced entry to sites.
The original article contains 553 words, the summary contains 218 words. Saved 61%. I’m a bot and I’m open source!
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