We should all have the right to clean water. No one should have to worry about enjoying coastal hotspots and swimming in sewage-infested waters.

People are rightly shocked at the shameful frequency of sewage discharges and the resulting damage to our most valued, delicate river habitats. The situation is a disaster for our natural environment and ecology and a significant public health issue. I am also concerned about the impact on coastal tourism.

We are in a dirty water emergency. Only 14% of English rivers meet good ecological standards and water companies discharged raw sewage into English waterways over 1.2 million times between 2016 and 2021.

I believe insufficient action has been taken to tighten regulation to stop water companies using discharges as a day-to-day measure when they were introduced for only the most extreme circumstances. The system is broken as discharges continue despite fines against water companies.

The Government published its Storm Overflows Discharge Reduction Plan in August 2022 which will require water companies to reduce discharges into designated bathing water and high priority nature sites by 2035 and all sites by 2050. I do not consider this a real plan as it does not eliminate sewage dumping into our natural environment and could see millions more spills by 2035 based on last year’s data.

In 2021, I voted to retain amendments made by the House of Lords to the then Environment Bill to require water companies to take all reasonable steps to ensure untreated sewage is not discharged into inland and coastal waters. The Government voted these down.

I welcome the Office for Environmental Protection’s investigation into the regulation of sewage overflows and the roles of Ofwat, the Environment Agency, and the Environment Secretary.

Additionally, the Environment Agency published a damning report into the environmental performance of water companies which stated that last year overall performance fell to the lowest level seen under its Environmental Performance Assessment.

Our water infrastructure is at bursting point with billions of litres of water wasted daily alongside these sewage discharges. We need a plan to address it and currently the Government does not have one.

I can assure you that my Opposition Colleagues and I will continue to raise this issue with the Government, push Ministers for a plan, and support legislation that would address the water crisis.