In 2011 the Environment Agency reported that our rivers were cleaner than at any time since the Industrial Revolution.

In March this year the same agency noted that there were more than 300,000 raw sewage discharges into rivers and coastal areas in 2022, lasting for more than 1.75 million hours.

In the same period our local water company, ‘United Utilities’, was responsible for 69,245 of those sewage discharges lasting for 425,491 hours.

In Trafford alone raw sewage was discharged into our waterways 1,912 times lasting for 9,295 hours.

These 9,295 hours of raw sewage went into the waterways alongside which we Trafford residents walk, cycle and ride and in which our families go boating, fishing and paddling.

Raw sewage in open waters has been shown to increase the risk of diseases such as hepatitis and Weil’s disease.

The deterioration in the quality of our water is so apparent that it is evidenced not only by Environment Agency data but by the observations of Trafford residents who have noted the rise in unpleasant odours and visible pollution in the water.

The sewage discharge data, provided by the water companies themselves, demonstrates that not a single discharge in 2022 resulted from exceptional circumstances - rainfall or storms – but due to a lack of treatment and investment by the same water companies.

Yet since 1989, they have paid out £72 billion in dividends to shareholders and bonuses of millions of pounds to executives while accruing industry wide debts of £60 billion and inflicting a 40% real terms price increase on ordinary people. So much value has been extracted from the sector that one of the largest companies is currently failing under its huge level of debt and there are forecasts of future huge price rises across the country, including Trafford, to make up for decades of lack of investment.

This situation is unfair and unsustainable – ordinary people are paying ever higher prices for the privilege of having raw human sewage dumped in their communities while the industry is allowed to be run for the enrichment of shareholders and executives.

We call upon Central Government to firmly establish the Polluter Pays Principal across the industry - to ensure that the Water Companies operate in the interests of the Public, not shareholders and make meaningful provision for the monitoring of water quality, publish a meaningful strategy with targets for the reduction of sewage discharges, including meaningful economic impact assessments, and provide for meaningful financial penalties in relation to sewage discharges and breaches of monitoring requirements.

It was moved and seconded that:

“In 2011 the Environment Agency reported that our rivers were cleaner than at any time since the Industrial Revolution.

In March this year the same agency noted that there were more than 300,000 raw sewage discharges into rivers and coastal areas in 2022, lasting for more than 1.75 million hours.

In the same period our local water company, ‘United Utilities’, was responsible for 69,245 of those sewage discharges lasting for 425,491 hours.

In Trafford alone raw sewage was discharged into our waterways 1,912 times lasting for 9,295 hours.

These 9,295 hours of raw sewage went into the waterways alongside which we Trafford residents walk, cycle and ride and in which our families go boating, fishing and paddling.

Raw sewage in open waters has been shown to increase the risk of diseases such as hepatitis and Weil’s disease.

The deterioration in the quality of our water is so apparent that it is evidenced not only by Environment Agency data but by the observations of Trafford residents who have noted the rise in unpleasant odours and visible pollution in the water.

The sewage discharge data, provided by the water companies themselves, demonstrates that not a single discharge in 2022 resulted from exceptional circumstances - rainfall or storms – but due to a lack of treatment and investment by the same water companies.

Yet since 1989, they have paid out £72 billion in dividends to shareholders and bonuses of millions of pounds to executives while accruing industry wide debts of £60 billion and inflicting a 40% real terms price increase on ordinary people.  So much value has been extracted from the sector that one of the largest companies is currently failing under its huge level of debt and there are forecasts of future huge price rises across the country, including Trafford, to make up for decades of lack of investment.

This situation is unfair and unsustainable – ordinary people are paying ever higher prices for the privilege of having raw human sewage dumped in their communities while the industry is allowed to be run for the enrichment of shareholders and executives.

We call upon Central Government to firmly establish the Polluter Pays Principal across the industry - to ensure that the Water Companies operate in the interests of the Public, not shareholders and make meaningful provision for the monitoring of water quality, publish a meaningful strategy with targets for the reduction of sewage discharges, including meaningful economic impact assessments, and provide for meaningful financial penalties in relation to sewage discharges and breaches of monitoring requirements.”

Following a debate on the matter, the Motion was put to the vote and declared carried.

RESOLVED: That in 2011 the Environment Agency reported that our rivers were cleaner than at any time since the Industrial Revolution.

In March this year the same agency noted that there were more than 300,000 raw sewage discharges into rivers and coastal areas in 2022, lasting for more than 1.75 million hours.

In the same period our local water company, ‘United Utilities’, was responsible for 69,245 of those sewage discharges lasting for 425,491 hours.

In Trafford alone raw sewage was discharged into our waterways 1,912 times lasting for 9,295 hours.

These 9,295 hours of raw sewage went into the waterways alongside which we Trafford residents walk, cycle and ride and in which our families go boating, fishing and paddling.

Raw sewage in open waters has been shown to increase the risk of diseases such as hepatitis and Weil’s disease.

The deterioration in the quality of our water is so apparent that it is evidenced not only by Environment Agency data but by the observations of Trafford residents who have noted the rise in unpleasant odours and visible pollution in the water.

The sewage discharge data, provided by the water companies themselves, demonstrates that not a single discharge in 2022 resulted from exceptional circumstances - rainfall or storms – but due to a lack of treatment and investment by the same water companies.

Yet since 1989, they have paid out £72 billion in dividends to shareholders and bonuses of millions of pounds to executives while accruing industry wide debts of £60 billion and inflicting a 40% real terms price increase on ordinary people.  So much value has been extracted from the sector that one of the largest companies is currently failing under its huge level of debt and there are forecasts of future huge price rises across the country, including Trafford, to make up for decades of lack of investment.

This situation is unfair and unsustainable – ordinary people are paying ever higher prices for the privilege of having raw human sewage dumped in their communities while the industry is allowed to be run for the enrichment of shareholders and executives.

We call upon Central Government to firmly establish the Polluter Pays Principal across the industry - to ensure that the Water Companies operate in the interests of the Public, not shareholders and make meaningful provision for the monitoring of water quality, publish a meaningful strategy with targets for the reduction of sewage discharges, including meaningful economic impact assessments, and provide for meaningful financial penalties in relation to sewage discharges and breaches of monitoring requirements.