Water companies are dumping gallons of raw sewage into our rivers - the Lea, the Ver and the Colne - and the government is doing nothing to stop it.
The Conservatives have failed to vote to ban water companies from letting sewage flow into our waterways. They voted down a Lib Dem amendment that would have named & shamed water companies and provided figures of animals killed by sewage dumps. And their utterly lacklustre plan to introduce a new ‘duty’ on these companies will do nothing to stop them continuing to dump sewage for years to come.
And instead of making water companies step up and pay to fix the sewage system – water companies that last year made pre-tax profits of £2.2bn – the government wants to stick the bill on hardworking taxpayers.
Liberal Democrats aren’t standing for it. We’re proposing a 16% sewage tax on water companies’ profits that would raise the £340m needed to sort the sewage system and keep our precious rivers and lakes clean.
Last year, Thames Water made pre-tax profits of £434m. Our sewage tax would make them stump up £70m – a small price to pay for having defiled our River Lea with 22 incidents of harmful sewage discard in 2020 alone.
The time for action is now. Join us in demanding that the Conservative government does more to protect our treasured waterways and force water companies clean up their mess. Sign our petition today.
