Environment Agency climb down after Fish Legal pressure against the lowering of standards for sewage discharges

After the threat of legal action from environmental angling organisation Fish legal, the Environment Agency (EA) has said that it will amend the Regulatory Position Statement (RPS) to make it clear that the EA is not allowing illegal discharges of sewage into rivers.

Fish Legal is a not-for-profit organisation of dedicated lawyers who use the law on behalf of anglers to fight polluters and others who damage and threaten the water environment.

Fish Legal wrote to the EA on 10 September demanding that they withdraw the RPS after the EA gave the green light to water companies to breach their environmental permits and discharge partially treated sewage into rivers due to Covid and Brexit-related chemical-shortages.

Now the EA say they will “amend” the RPS.

Despite this victory for rivers, Fish Legal is still concerned at the “risk assessments” conducted by the water companies for the sewage works discharging into rivers and streams. The risk assessments suggest that very little has been done to fully consider environmental impact, particularly in the so-called “low-risk” “category A” rivers. The EA imply in their response, for instance, that they may not allow the water companies to use the RPS for rivers with “good” or “high” environmental status. But where a river is already failing its environmental standards, it is more acceptable to let the incompletely treated effluent into the river.

It is a revelation that these rivers are considered to be less important and Fish Legal are encouraging its members to continue to take action if their river is being deprioritised for environmental protection. If anyone is concerned about any of their local rivers, they are urged to contact the water companies to find out what protections have been put in place to ensure that there is no pollution or environmental harm.

Risk Assessment Category A – Watercourse and WWTW site

These entries have been taken directly from the water company risk assessments and contain possible duplication and some blank columns, as in the originals sent to Fish Legal by the EA.