Tackling storm overflows to cost up to £600bn

Complete separation of sewage water systems from rainwater systems would cost between £350bn and £600bn, according to research from the Storm Overflow Taskforce.

Water minister, Rebecca Pow, shared the numbers in Parliament last week, in response to a challenge from Labour MP for South Shields, Emma Lewell-Buck ,about sewage discharges at Seaburn beach in her constituency.

Pow said the taskforce’s report was due to be published shortly and would show those costs for complete system separation, or a £150bn-£300bn cost for increasing the size of infrastructure, though with the latter “there would still probably be some use of the overflows if we have massive storms”.