Charity Friends of the Earth fear health risk as sewage spills in Burnley rise massively

Sewage from storm overflows was flowing into water bodies in Burnley for 6,231 hours in 2023, during 928 spills, according to Environment Agency data.

All of these were from facilities operated by United Utilities. This was up from 1,107 hours recorded the year before, when there were 480 spills.

The Environment Agency says wet weather may be to blame.

But James Wallace, chief executive of campaign group River Action, said water companies have "run amok" with their customers' money.

"The scale of the discharges by water companies is a final indictment of a failing industry."

Sienna Somers, Friends of the Earth campaigner, said: "Scandalous inaction by water companies has pushed our ecosystems to the brink and is putting our health at risk.

"But the real sewage scandal is our Government’s pursuit of deregulation and deep cuts to the Environment Agency, which mean even ministers are in the dark about the true extent of water pollution.”

A spokesperson for industry body Water UK said: "These results are unacceptable and demonstrate exactly why we urgently need regulatory approval to upgrade our system so it can better cope with the weather.

"We have a plan to sort this out by tripling investment, which will cut spills by 40% by 2030 – more than double the Government’s target.

"We now need the regulator Ofwat to give us the green light so that we can get on with it.”

The water companies say they want to triple investment to £10b. over the period 2025-2030 to tackle the problem, which would be paid for through consumer bills.