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Leader and Environment

We need rapid political intervention to end sewage pollution crises

As news feeds overflow with videos of raw sewage gushing into UK rivers, the government here needs to step up with tougher regulation and more joined-up thinking

9 August 2023

2HHFJTC Hundreds of people gather on Port Meadow, Oxford, to protest against sewage release into the River Thames.

Elly Godfroy/Alamy

THE UK has a very mucky problem. News feeds overflow with videos of raw sewage gushing into rivers during heavy rain. In our report (see Sewage crisis: The truth about British rivers and how to clean them up), we explore why the country still dumps untreated waste into waterways and how to fix this. The solution, it turns out, includes thinking about the water system as a whole: tackling sewage pollution is also about fixing flooding and drought problems. Tougher governance is essential, too.

The UK isn’t alone. In Australia, Sydney Water recently agreed to pay $347,100 for environmental and community works after a broken pipe …

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