Charity says water companies failed to report over 50,000 sewage spills within an hour

Mixed · 2Surfers Against Sewage, a charity, says water companies in England failed to report more than 50,000 sewage discharges within the legally required timeframe in the first six months of 2026. 1 2 Mixed · 2Firms must report discharges within 60 minutes so the public knows when sewage is entering waters, and the Daily Mirror says the rule has applied since the start of last year. 2 1 Mixed · 2The charity's data found that all nine of England's water companies missed the requirement, and more than 4,000 of the delayed reports affected designated bathing waters. 1 2

Right · 1The Daily Express reports that the charity named Yorkshire Water the "worst offender", with more than 13,000 late publications. Yorkshire Water disputes this, saying its own figure is nearly 4,500 and that it is seeking to understand the basis of the charity's analysis. 2 Right · 1Yorkshire Water said late publication can have causes such as data-processing delays or problems at specific sites, and that it has a project under way to speed up publishing. Water UK said the English industry is the most transparent in the world, that some monitors are in remote locations whose signals need extra checks that can cause short delays, and that no sewage spill is acceptable. 2 Right · 1Giles Bristow, the charity's chief executive, called the failures "a threat to public health" and said they are illegal. He accused water companies of "greed and law-breaking" and said the Government is still deliberating over who owns the industry. 2

Mixed · 2The charity says 1,568 sickness reports reached it through its Safer Seas and Rivers Service app last year, including severe bacterial infections and some hospitalisations. The Mirror adds that 1,687 people reported illness in the first eight months of this year. 1 2 Mixed · 2Swimmer Loretta Cox told the Mirror she is "99.9%" sure she caught E. coli from sea water at Looe, Cornwall. Retired doctor Peter Selley told the Express that illness from polluted water is not a notifiable disease and that there is no co-ordinated response for medical professionals. 1 2 Left · 1The Mirror also reports that Freedom of Information data shows at least 70,400 hours of sewage were dumped on dry days in the first half of the year, although storm overflows may only be used in heavy rain. It says Prime Minister Andy Burnham has backed more public control of water companies without saying what that would involve, while some campaigners say only renationalisation will work. 1