WELLINGTON and Wiveliscombe MP Rebecca Pow wants pollution fines imposed on water companies to be shared out among communities which suffer the incidents.

Ms Pow, a former Environment Minister, made the proposal during a Parliamentary debate where she supported 250 constituents who signed a petition calling on the Government to ban discharges of raw sewage into water courses.

She said the current Government had done more than any other to stop raw sewage going into rivers via storm sewage overflows and had just increased fines for pollution from £250,000 to £250 million.

Ms Pow said: “I am proposing that money raised from the welcome new increased fines on water companies for polluting be made available to communities, farmers, and organisations in the same catchment as the pollution incident to restore waterways. This would make an immediate difference locally.”

Ms Pow said water companies must be made to meet their targets to reduce harm from storm sewage overflows and the 2050 Government deadline for them to ensure no ecological harm should be brought forward to 2035.

She also called on regulator OFWAT to ‘use its teeth’ to ensure water companies funded infrastructure to address storm sewage overflows, with a strong messaging that bosses should link salaries and dividend payments to environmental improvements.

Ms Pow said it would also be helpful if there was mandatory, clear, labelling to indicate which items could be safely flushed, because it ws costing £1 million a year to tackle ‘fatbergs’ in sewers.

This was where fat coagulated around items such as wet wipes and nappies which were thrown into drains and caused sewer blockages which frequently triggered overflows.

Ms Pow said it was not only sewage which was contributing to the toxic mix of pollutants in many water courses and causing a decline in nature.

Supporting farmers to manage their land to reduce nutrient run-off was also vital and the Government should use its new Environment Land Management Scheme to help fund this. 

Ms Pow said: “Finally, I am calling for a more holistic approach to dealing with water - to not only clean up our water but improve sustainability and resilience of supply.

“These areas are all interconnected and need to be looked at together in order to protect our precious resource of water for future generations.”