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This petition was submitted during the 2019 to 2024 Parliament

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Closed Bring forward requirements for tackling sewage discharges into seas and rivers

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Storm overflows were designed in the Victorian era to be used during extreme weather to prevent sewers becoming overloaded by releasing diluted wastewater into our rivers and sea. The system is outdated. The current government timeline and regulations is to have addressed the issue by 2050.

On the 26th Aug, 2022, the Government published a plan to require water companies to achieve the following targets so that discharges only happen when there is unusually heavy rain and when there is no immediate adverse impact to the local environment:

- By 2035, water companies will have to improve all storm overflows discharging into or near every designated bathing water; and improve 75% of overflows discharging to high priority nature sites.
- By 2050, this will apply to all remaining storm overflows covered by the Government's targets, regardless of location.

We implore the Government to set more ambitious targets, requiring water companies to address high priority areas by 2025, and all overflows by 2030.

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  • Petition closed

  • Related activity

    Government responds to petition about storm overflow spillage

    The Government has responded to a public (paper) petition about storm overflow spillage. The petition was presented to the House of Commons by Sally-Ann Hart MP on behalf of the residents of the United Kingdom.

    The petition asks the House of Commons to urge the Government to bring forward overflow spilling targets from the Government's Storm Overflow Discharge Reduction Plan and take further action to stop the spillages happening by the summer of 2023.

    In response to the petition's request, the Government states that its 2022 storm overflows discharge reduction plan set strict targets that will see the toughest ever crackdown on sewage spills and will require water companies to deliver the largest infrastructure programme in water company history. The Government also said that on 25 April it announced a legally binding target to crack down on sewage spills from storm overflows.

    What are public (paper) petitions?

    A public (paper) petition is a petition to the House of Commons presented by an MP.

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  • Petition published

    This petition can now be signed.

    If this petition gets 10,000 signatures, government will respond to it.

    If this petition gets 100,000 signatures, it will be considered for debate in Parliament.

    This petition will stay open until 23 September 2023.