Sewage regularly dumped illegally in England and Wales rivers

Untreated sewage is being dumped illegally in rivers across the country on a regular basis, analysis shown to the BBC suggests. It found seven water companies in England and Wales discharged untreated sewage into rivers and the sea more than 3,000 times between 2017 and 2021. The Environmental Audit Committee said raw sewage and microplastics were putting health and nature at risk. Prof Hammond said the Environment Agency is failing to detect thousands of illegal spills because it is not scrutinising the available data closely enough. Untreated sewage was discharged into the River Mole on 223 days over the last four years. Prof Hammond's analysis suggests none of them would have been permitted by the rules, because either the weather was too dry, or not enough of the sewage had been treated properly