Water companies dumped untreated sewage into England’s rivers and seas for more than 2.7 million hours last year.
Each pipe should have a permit from the environment regulator. But #Dispatches can reveal some are being used illegally.
Our #Dispatches investigation has found there are 870 sewage discharge pipes across the country without permits.
Dumping sewage from these pipes is illegal.
Welsh water has 184 and says they’re all in use.
Northumbrian Water has six which are all in use.
And Severn Trent has 420 but did not state how many are being used.
“This is off the books, so we have no idea when it blows or how much comes out”
@jimmysfarm spoke with a campaigner from @LDNWaterkeeper who found one of these illegal pipes without a permit on the River Brent in London.
On average over the last 10 years private water companies have invested five to six billion pounds a year in infrastructure.
But they’ve also paid out £1.7 billion a year in dividends to shareholders. So have they invested enough?
“The situation will get worse every year if we don’t invest in upgrading the infrastructure.”
Research by @imperial College London for #Dispatches reveals four out of the five largest sewage treatment works that dumped sewage last year did so because they're too small to cope.
WATCH: @C4Dispatches Britain's water scandal tonight on @Channel4 at 7.30pm.
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