Alec Shelbrooke MP has welcomed the Government's decision to force water companies to bring forward £60 billion of planned investment in order to prevent sewage from entering our rivers and waterways.
Furthermore, the Government has pledged to ensure that every single storm overflow in the UK is monitored by the end of 2023, protecting water quality in our rivers and ensuring that water companies can better be held to account for pollution.
To date, the Government has increased the percentage of monitoring across the water network from 10% in 2015 to 90% presently, ensuring that we are now aware of the scale of the issue.
The Government has now brought in additional rules to remove the cap on fines for breaking water quality and sewage overflow regulations, meaning that any water company found to be breaking these rules will now face a potentially unlimited fine.
Commenting, Alec said, "I am clear that the amount of discharge of sewage into our rivers is unacceptable and have therefore voted to implement stricter sanctions for those companies that fail to meet their obligations. It is right that the Government is now requiring water companies to deliver the largest infrastructure upgrade in their history to address this issue".
Labour MPs did not vote to support these measures.