Committee scrutinises storm overflow discharges in Wales

The Welsh Affairs Committee held a standalone session last week to examine the quality of water in Wales following widespread media coverage of sewage discharges.

The committee noted there were 105,751 sewage spills into waterways across Wales in 2020, and took evidence from environmental campaigners including Surfers Against Sewage and Afonydd Cymru.

Topics included:

• how the Welsh and UK governments are tackling the problem of sewage discharges from storm overflows.

• The situation in Wales compared to the rest of the UK;

• the extent of unpermitted sewage spills in Wales; and

• whether reforms to storm overflows under the Environment Act 2021 that apply to England should be extended to Wales.

The available solutions to untreated sewage discharges.