Campaigners criticise frequent use of storm overflows when parts of the country were in drought for months
Raw sewage was discharged into rivers and seas almost 300,000 times last year after the driest spring for more than 100 years and the sunniest and warmest year on record in England.
Water companies released raw sewage into rivers and seas from storm overflows – designed to be used in extreme wet weather conditions – 291,492 times. This was a 35% reduction on record spills in 2024. Average discharges were 20.5 spills for each overflow, compared with 31.8 in the previous year.
The duration of raw sewage discharges into waterways fell by more than half, to 1.8m hours, from a high of almost 4m hours in 2024. Some water companies had reductions of more than 60% and 70% compared with the previous year, according to figures released on Thursday by the Environment Agency (EA).
Despite drought conditions across the country, raw sewage was discharged for almost 1m hours more than in 2018, pointing to the impact of the failure to invest in infrastructure over the long term, campaigners said.
