#sewage-pollution

#sewage-pollution

Debris balls have washed up on Sydney's beaches after a weekend of heavy rain, with the objects found on Malabar beach next to a sewage treatment works and also in Botany Bay. Sydney Water erected a sign at Malabar beach warning of the potential pollution. This area may be affected by sewage debris balls, the sign states. Please do not touch any debris. We are cleaning the area and apologise for any inconvenience.

Water companies have issued a fifth of the UK's green bonds since 2017, despite a consistently poor record of sewage pollution during that time, research has shown. Privately owned water companies in England have together issued 10.5bn in bonds tied to projects that offer environmental benefits, according to analysis of financial market data by Unearthed, which is part of Greenpeace UK. Anglian Water has been the biggest issuer in the water industry, at 3.5bn, with struggling Thames Water second at 3.1bn.

Fining English water companies for spilling raw sewage will soon become quicker and easier, the government has said. New proposals would see automatic fines of up to 20,000 issued for some minor offences and make it simpler to punish more serious ones. In recent years data from the water industry's own monitoring equipment has shown how frequently rules are broken around sewage spills. But the regulator, the Environment Agency, has by its own admission struggled to act.

Eight female activists claim to have attempted a citizen's arrest on Anglian Water's chief executive at a railway station in south London. British Transport Police were called when the group surrounded Mark Thurston, who earns a reported 720,000 salary, at Coulston South around 7am on Wednesday. They held hands in a circle to prevent him from leaving the scene while one woman read Mr Thurston charges they accuse Anglian Water of including environmental damage from illegal sewage spills.

A surfing group was left devastated when it called off a national competition after raw sewage was dumped into the sea off Cornwall. Competitors were in the water for the English Interclub Surfing Championships in Porthtowan, on the northern coast of the county near Redruth, when lifeguards issued a red flag to organisers. The status which indicates danger and means people should not enter the water was triggered after South West Water alerted the local council over a sewage discharge into the sea.

As our water pipes have been left to crumble into disrepair with vital maintenance delayed, the water companies have wasted millions on expensive legal firms tasked with downplaying the extent of the sewage scandal. My constituents will be outraged by what our committee has uncovered. That money should be spent fixing our broken water infrastructure not trying to deny the scale of the problem.

Of England's 451 protected bathing spots, 37 are now rated as poor – the lowest category – due to unsafe levels of potentially deadly bacteria from sewage spills.