The Great Sewage Cover-Up: Lib Dems Demand Transparency as Data Reveals Hundreds of Thousands of Spills

​The United Kingdom’s waterways are facing an ecological crisis of unprecedented proportions, yet the true scale of the devastation remains shrouded in mystery. The Liberal Democrats have launched a major national campaign to “End the Great Sewage Cover-Up,” arguing that current government reporting requirements deliberately obscure the sheer volume of filth being pumped into the nation’s rivers and coastlines.
​While the government points to a decrease in the total number of spills as a sign of progress, new annual data for 2025 paints a far grimmer picture. Last year alone, there were 291,492 recorded sewage spills across England. However, under current regulations, water companies are only required to report the duration and frequency of these spills, not the actual volume of waste discharged.

​A "League of Shame": The Worst Offenders
​The 2025 data highlights a "league of shame" among private water providers, with some companies recording tens of thousands of individual discharge events. Environment Agency data reveals water companies dumped sewage 291,492 times last year.

Thames Water was the worst offender for duration of spills, with an average of 11.7 hours worth per spill. The worst offender for the number of spills was United Utilities with 60,843 spills in 2025. South West Water was responsible for the longest spill, which lasted 5446 hours - equivalent to 226.9 days or nearly eight months.

​Liberal Democrat Demands: Volume, Not Just Time
​The Liberal Democrats are calling for an immediate legislative change to force water companies to monitor and report the volume of sewage dumped. Without this data, the party argues, the public is being denied an accurate picture of the environmental damage.

​“The Great Sewage Cover-Up is a national scandal. It is not enough to know how long a sewage spill lasted; we need to know the sheer volume of waste being dumped to understand the true scale of this destruction. While water bosses pocket massive bonuses and hike up bills, our families are being left to swim in filth. Liberal Democrats are demanding an end to this cover-up. It’s time the true extent of the sewage crisis is revealed.” Ed Davey MP  Liberal Democrat Leader.

​The Liberal Democrats are deeply disappointed that the Government’s Water White Paper, ‘A New Vision for Water’', failed to mandate volume monitoring. Consequently, the Lib Dems have pledged to table amendments to upcoming water legislation in the next King’s Speech to ensure this loophole is closed.

​A Failure of Accountability
​The criticism extends to both the previous Conservative administration and the current Labour government. The Liberal Democrats have recently been highlighted the absurdity of measuring pollution by time rather than quantity.

​“I have never heard anyone say 'I'll have three and a half seconds of Guinness please.' By measuring in time not volume, these companies deliberately obscure how much they are polluting our waterways with sewage. For too long, water companies have been allowed to treat our coastlines as open sewers. From the Conservatives' years of negligence to Labour’s current failure to take tough action, the excuses must stop."

​“The Government needs to finally hold these firms to account by forcing them to report the volume of sewage discharged. The public deserves to know exactly how many millions of litres of filth are trashing our environment and threatening our health. Until we measure the true scale of this destruction, the cover-up will continue.” Tim Farron MP -Environment spokesperson,

​Liberal Democrat Policy: Reforming the Water Industry
​The campaign to end the "Cover-Up" is part of a broader suite of Liberal Democrat policies aimed at fixing the UK's broken water system. Key proposals include:

​Public Interest Companies: Transforming water companies into "Public Interest Companies," ensuring they prioritise environmental protection over shareholder dividends.
​A "Blue Flag" Status for Rivers: Implementing a new legal framework to protect river health, similar to the status awarded to clean beaches.
​Scrapping Bonuses: Banning multi-million pound bonuses for water company executives until sewage dumps are brought under control.
​Stronger Regulation: Replacing the current regulatory framework with a more powerful "Clean Water Authority" to replace Ofwat.


​As the 2026 local elections approach, the Liberal Democrats are committed to ensuring that the "Great Sewage Cover-Up" will remain a central pillar of their platform, holding the government’s feet to the fire or rather, to the water, until full transparency is achieved and sewage dumps in bathing water is stopped.

Sign the petition and join the campaign to end sewage dumping:
https://www.libdems.org.uk/stop-sewage 

Read the full report "2025 Event Duration Monitoring - Storm Overflows - Annual Returns reported" here: https://environment.data.gov.uk/dataset/21e15f12-0df8-4bfc-b763-45226c16a8ac 

Read more about the Liberal Democrats Stop the Sewage Campaign here: 
https://www.libdems.org.uk/sewage

Read the Liberal Democrats Policy 
"The Clean Water Authority" here:
https://www.libdems.org.uk/news/article/the-clean-water-authority

"Are you drinking what we’re drinking? "Here:
https://www.libdems.org.uk/news/article/are-you-drinking-what-were-drinking

Policies for Affordable, Available and Clean Water in England and Wales:
https://www.libdems.org.uk/fileadmin/groups/2_Federal_Party/Documents/PolicyPapers/24_-_Water__Policies_for_Affordable__Available_and_Clean_Water_in_England_and_Wales___1996_.pdf


Top 5 worst for average duration (hrs) per spill event:

Thames Water: 11.7 hours

South West Water: 8.8 hours

Wessex Water: 7.8 hours

Southern Water: 7.4 hours

Anglian Water: 6.1 hours

Top 5 worst total number of spills:

United Utilities: 60,843

Yorkshire Water: 51,431

South West Water: 46,164

Severn Trent Water: 36,471

Northumbrian Water: 27,776

Top 5 worst for average number of spills per storm overflow:

South West Water: 34.0

United Utilities: 26.8

Yorkshire Water: 23.6

Welsh Water: 23.3

Wessex Water: 18.3

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