The British environment minister said on Saturday that the British government wants to reduce untreated sewage discharges to zero by 2050, a major investment that will mean higher taxes for consumers.
According to a government plan presented Friday, water companies will have to invest around £56 billion (about US$66 billion) to renovate their sewer systems.
British Environment Secretary George Eustice told radio it was about “revolutionizing our sewer systems”. BBC4He said the current situation is “a legacy of 19th century Victorian infrastructure”, with about 15,000 sewers dumped into the sea.
Untreated sewage can be discharged into the sea in large quantities, especially when systems are overwhelmed by heavy rains, as happened last week.
health risk
At the height of the northern hemisphere summer season, many beaches in England were closed to tourists due to health risks. On Friday, Xavier Bertrand, head of the Hauts-de-France region (northern France), warned the French government of these wastewater discharges, an “ecological disaster” that has worsened “since Brexit”, according to him.
Eustice said the current British government, with the Conservative Party only a few days to win the nomination of Boris Johnson’s successor, is “the first government to take this issue seriously”.
“The reason this decision has been delayed for decades by both Labor and Conservative governments is because they want to keep their water bills low,” Eustice said.
Water companies will have to replace pipes near designated bathing areas by 2035, for others, by 2050 at the latest, according to the government’s plan.
The additional cost to consumers by 2030 will be around £12 per household per year and £42 per household by 2050.
The Liberal Democrat opposition called the plan a “brutal joke” and estimated that by 2030 there would be 325,000 sewage discharges per year in the sea, lakes or rivers.
The European Commission said on Thursday it will respond to complaints from members of the European Parliament on the matter.
(with information from AFP)
source: Noticias
