New analysis indicates that water companies in England have illegally discharged sewage near 65 popular beaches since May 2024. This number represents a significant portion of the country's designated bathing sites and comes despite updated guidance from the Environment Agency (EA) specifying that spills should only occur under "exceptional circumstances." Prior to this, a previously undisclosed definition of "heavy rain" used by the EA had allowed companies to spill sewage during what might be considered "normal" weather conditions. Internal EA documents from a 2021 court case against Southern Water for illegal discharges defined "heavy rainfall" as 25 to 30 mm in 24 hours for a spill to be compliant. However, an independent analysis found that approximately 86% of raw sewage spilling hours over the last two years occurred during rainfall below this threshold, suggesting potential illegality.
The Office for Environmental Protection (OEP) ruled in 2024 that the EA was not properly applying legislation regarding legal spills, allowing water companies to discharge sewage in "normal" weather rather than the legally mandated "exceptional circumstances." In response, the EA issued new guidance in 2025 to clarify that spills should not happen during normal weather. Despite this, a recent analysis found that 87% of spills in 2024 and 2025 happened when rainfall was below 25mm, meaning they could be considered illegal. Even the best-performing water companies had a potential illegality rate exceeding 70% during this period. For instance, Yorkshire Water saw 93% of its spills under 25mm in 2024 and 2025, while Thames Water's figures were 84% and 96% respectively.
The widespread sewage pollution continues to draw criticism, especially as England's bathing season commenced with numerous warnings of sewage in the seas. Data from the start of 2024 to early June revealed that water firms have discharged sewage into rivers and seas for over 1.5 million hours. This follows 1.5 million hours of discharges in 2025, and 3.6 million hours in 2024. While the total duration of spills decreased by 35% in 2025 compared to 2024, this improvement was largely attributed to significantly drier weather in 2025. Furthermore, water companies were found to have discharged sewage on "dry days" for over 187,000 hours in 2025, including 7,885 hours into bathing waters, with South West Water responsible for the highest number of dry spills at 46,191 hours. The Environment Agency has stated that spills outside of rainfall and snowmelt constitute a breach and that they will pursue criminal convictions when strict legal requirements are met.
