Secretary of State for the Environment, Ofwat and the Environment Agency all under investigation by the Office of Environmental Protection following WildFish (formerly Salmon & Trout Conservation) complaint.
WildFish is delighted at the announcement made by The Office for Environmental Protection today (28th June 2022) that they are to investigate the Secretary of State for the Environment, Ofwat and the Environment Agency (EA) in relation to their failures to comply with relevant environmental law duties relating to the discharge of untreated sewage into English rivers by water companies.
Nick Measham, CEO of WildFish said:
“We have all the law we need to prevent water companies dumping raw sewage in our rivers. We hope this investigation, on the back of our complaint, corrects that failure.”
“What we currently lack is a Secretary of State, an Ofwat and an EA prepared to enforce the law. “
Guy Linley-Adams, solicitor to WildFish, who submitted the detailed complaint, said:
“we are delighted that the OEP is to launch this investigation. We have been saying for years that Ofwat and the Environment Agency, with the political backing of the Secretary of State, needed to get tough with water companies.
“Recent sewage pollution data shows that that is simply not the case.
“Make no mistake, the pollution we see today in English rivers is the direct and inevitable result of the appallingly soft touch regulation applied to the water companies by both the Environment Agency and Ofwat over many years.”
“We were given endless reassurances that things were fine and that pollution would be curtailed.”
Further information
WildFish’s response to the Governments Storm Overflow Discharge Reduction Plan.
Click here to read our full response.
In September 2021, WildFish submitted a formal complaint to the Office for Environmental Protection (OEP) on the failure of OFWAT and Secretaries of State to enforce law on sewage pollution of English rivers.
Support like yours allows our determined campaigning team to fight the destruction caused by open-net salmon farming, pollution and over-abstraction
Find out about all the ways in which you can help wild fish…
