Anglian Water to tackle sewage spills with £50m investment

New in-sewer monitors will be installed as part of the investment, the government says

Anglian Water will pledge £50m towards tackling sewage spills, the government has announced.

More than £180m will be invested in total by several water companies in England to support the effort to reduce storm overflow discharges by 2025.

The measures would include the use of artificial intelligence and installing in-sewer monitors, a spokesperson said.

The government hopes the measures will prevent more than 8,000 spills polluting English waterways.

Anglian Water is set to invest the most money in the scheme, with Severn Trent, Southern, South West, United Utilities and Wessex also contributing.

Blocked drains and sewage systems have led to sewage detritus floating in surface water in Norfolk villages

Environment Secretary Steve Barclay said the investment was part of government efforts to "push for better performance from water companies and hold them to account".

He said: "The amount of sewage being spilled into our rivers is completely unacceptable and the public rightly expects action.

"This money will mean more cutting-edge technology, including artificial intelligence, and more specialist staff to detect and reduce spills."

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It is the latest move to tackle the levels of pollution being dumped into rivers, lakes and around the coasts from sources including overflow pipes and processing plants.

Giles Bristow, chief executive of campaign group Surfers Against Sewage, said the investment was welcome but that questions remained on the "scale and scope of the government's ambitions for our rivers and seas".

He added: "We'll be watching closely to ensure that it's the polluters, not the consumer, that pays to clean up this mess."

Anglian Water was fined more than £1.2m in October 2022 for causing pollution across three counties back in 2019, and was also fined £2.65m last year, which was later reduced to £300,000 following an appeal in February, after millions of litres of untreated sewage overflowed into the North Sea near Jaywick in Essex.

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