🚽 Environment Secretary Therese Coffey said she absolutely did “give a s**t” about sewage as she launched the wide-ranging plan, yet it only promised to end discharges into rivers and the coastline by 2050
and coasts and the infrastructure that should be keeping them clean has dogged Defra for years, with criticism intensifying over the last year. Ms Coffey insisted, however, that the issue was a priority for her.There is a target of eliminating all storm overflows, including sewage, by 2050, and those into bathing waters and sensitive areas by 2035. Defra is also working to direct water company fines directly to environmental projects.
“Churning out a litany of long-term targets with weak but headline-grabbing policies and hoping the voting public won’t notice the big holes at the centre of the plan just won’t cut it,” he added. How water companies are made to reduce leakages, however, will rely on Ofwat, which must balance keeping prices down for consumers with infrastructure costs. There is no mention in the EIP of water meters, one of the most effective ways of reducing water demand.Defra will aim to reduce nitrogen, phosphorous and sedimentby 40 percent from 2018 levels by 2048. Farming runoff can cause algal blooms, which then starve rivers of oxygen and fill them with toxins.
Those same subsidies will also be used to help farmers reduce their ammonia pollution and their reliance on pesticides, encouraging a transition to nature-based solutions, as well increasing biodiversity on farms.A key area of the EIP deals with tackling air pollution. The UK regularly breaches World Health Organisation air pollution targets, and Ms Coffey has been dragged into rows with local councils over whether they have the powers to enforce clean air standards.
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