DEFRA Raw Sewage Taskforce Avoided 96% Of Meetings
The Guardian has reported that the storm overflows taskforce is not meeting as often as it’s supposed to. Not even close:
The storm overflows taskforce set up by the government to tackle raw sewage discharges by water companies in England has only met once in the last year, a freedom of information request has revealed. […] Its terms of reference state: “The taskforce will meet fortnightly, with exact frequency and timings of meetings at the discretion of the chairperson in consultation with the group members.” Its goals are “to develop: proposals to significantly reduce the frequency and impact of sewage discharges from storm overflows short-term actions to accelerate progress to reduce the harm caused by storm overflows”.
So, not exactly every two weeks then. Put another way, they’ve missed over 96% of the ‘fortnightly’ meetings one might have expected.
Is this a problem? Well, not according to Defra, apparently:
A Defra spokesperson said: “Our taskforce delivered exactly what it set out to do – develop proposals to significantly reduce the frequency and impact of sewage discharges from storm overflows. This was delivered through our storm overflows discharge reduction plan, which was published in August 2022 and will require the largest infrastructure programme in water company history – £56bn capital investment over 25 years.”
This abdication of a responsibility, even while arguing that huge additional expenditure will be needed, is hard to fathom. And this is also, of course, in the current data context:
England has about 14,500 storm overflows, which are supposed to be used in exceptionally heavy rain to stop the sewage system backing up into people’s homes. But water companies have been routinely dumping raw sewage into rivers and seas even in periods of dry weather.