Conservative minister tried to block release of sewage pollution figures

A Conservative minister repeatedly tried to stop England’s environment regulator from publishing data showing a sharp rise in recorded sewage spills into waterways, emails obtained by Unearthed show.

The dumping of untreated sewage into Britain’s rivers and seas by the country’s water companies has become a national scandal in recent years. 

This week three water companies were fined a combined £168 million by industry regulator Ofwat for routinely releasing untreated sewage into open waters rather than just in exceptional circumstances.

The Environment Agency (EA) is obliged by law to publish annual statistics on how often overflow pipes released sewage into rivers and seas, and how long the spills lasted. The data is gathered using measuring devices called Event Duration Monitors (EDM).

In previous years the EA has published a spreadsheet of the data relating to individual overflow pipes, but this year it released an online portal mapping the spills and recording national figures. 

The 2023 data showed 464,056 spills and 3,606,170 hours of spilling in 2023 – increases of 54% and 105% respectively on the previous year. This was largely blamed on unusually wet weather.

In March, ahead of the publication, then-Defra minister Robbie Moore ordered the agency to remove headline figures about the total number and duration of the spills from the portal.

This would be the first year in which every overflow pipe in England had an EDM fitted, the minister argued, meaning the total figure could not be accurately compared to the previous year’s data. His officials continued to argue this after the EA added figures on the average total spills per pipe.

However EA officials refused to remove the total figures, leading to a five-day disagreement that escalated to the agency’s senior leadership and continued until the night before the figures were due to be published.

The minister “has decided that the portal should be published tomorrow, but should NOT include total hours or total number of spills”, an official in Moore’s private office wrote.

Phillip Duffy, the EA’s chief executive, refused to comply, warning that this would be “highly counterproductive” since campaigners “will tot up the numbers and accuse us of trying to cover them up”. 

“It will damage the EA and it will damage the government,” he added. The figures were also included in the agency’s press release, Duffy pointed out. 

“The portal should be published tomorrow, but should NOT include total hours or total number of spills”
— Defra minister Robbie Moore’s office

The EA released the data as planned. The headline statistics were widely reported in the national press, and Liberal Democrat leader Ed Davey called for the scandal of raw sewage pouring into waterways to be declared a national environmental emergency. 

Lib Dem environment spokesperson Tim Farron said: “This is a shocking attempt at a cover up by a Conservative minister. The department should now publish all records of Conservative ministers attempting to hide sewage pollution from the public. For all we know, there could be more instances of this.”

Robbie Moore MP, now shadow farming minister, did not respond to requests for comment from Unearthed. Defra declined to comment on private correspondence from ministers.

An Environment Agency spokesperson said: “The Environment Agency is fully committed to transparency.”

‘A regrettable lapse’

The email exchange, obtained by Unearthed under freedom of information rules, began on March 22, five days before the sewage data was released.

“Minister Moore does not want this data released without his approval,” his private office wrote to EA officials, “and is not content with the black box (total spills and total hours split) data being released into the public domain as is.”

He “pointed out that whilst this is us being transparent, the key takeaway is going to be an increase”, recommending instead an average of sewage spilled per overflow be included for a direct comparison between years.

While EA officials agreed to include the average statistic in its release, they pushed back against the effort to withhold data on total spills and total hours split. 

“We would like the total number, duration and average spill per overflow to remain on the front page as we believe the greater risk is to leave to a pressure group to release these numbers and risk criticism of government for not being transparent in the first place,” an official wrote.

In an email on March 26, the minister’s office reiterated his demand: “[the minister] would like the portal to be published WITH average spills per overflow, the percentage of overflows that have monitors and WITHOUT total hours and total hours spill for the portal.”

At this point, Duffy got involved: “I am very sorry but I don’t think we can comply with the Minister’s steer… it appears highly counterproductive and we don’t understand the basis or logic for it.”

“It will damage the EA and it will damage the government”
— Environment Agency CEO Phillip Duffy

Moore’s office twice more urged the EA not to release the data, but Duffy stayed firm, describing Defra’s objectives and strategy as “a mystery to us” before publishing.

Unearthed’s freedom of information request was rejected in May, with the EA arguing, among other reasons, that disclosure “would have an adverse effect on strong government by undermining the relationship of trust between the Environment Agency and Defra in both the discussions around storm overflow data and other areas of environmental regulation.” 

In July, following an appeal and a change in government, the emails were released.

Giles Bristow, chief executive of campaigning group Surfers Against Sewage, said: “This shocking story shows just why trust in institutions has plummeted – those in power are far too focused on massaging figures and burying bad news rather than being honest with the public.”

He added: “We know we’re up shit creek with the sewage scandal but transparency can be the paddle that gets us out. We call on the new government to ensure they, and the industry regulators, are always clear with the public and unafraid to reveal the truth about our broken water system.”