Photo source: Sunday Times
In an important tribunal ruling this last week the water companies won their appeal that they are exempt from the environmental information regulations on sewage and pollution. This means they don’t have to disclose details of pollution incidents in their region.
The right to know or the right to keep private information is a challenging and difficult area for the water companies. It revolves around the public’s perception of whether the water companies are truly private companies or managing water on behalf of the state. It also sits uneasily with the Corporate Responsibility Statements of the water companies.
The root issue is the continuing problems with unsatisfactory intermittent discharges (CSO’s). There is no doubt that the UK’s aging sewage network is increasing overloaded and needs massive investment to reduce the frequency of spillage of untreated sewage into water courses and the sea. But its an area the water companies would rather move slowly on given the huge investment implications and impact on customer bills. Lined up against them are powerful voices such as the Sunday Times with its water rats campaign and the BBC Panorama programme. Driving this is the rapid growth in water contact sports like surfing and the increasing number of influential opinion makers participating in water sports.
Lessons from other industries suggest that trying to prevent disclosure of information is not a tenable long term position. Better to start an informed debate now about what can be done, what it would cost and how much we can afford to spend.
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