The Environment Agency has released it’s latest figures for sewage discharges in England and Wales. In 2025 over 2.65 million hours of continuous sewage spilling took place in our rivers, coasts and beauty spots.
This is a reduction on the last couple of years. However 2025 was exceptionally dry, with many regions of the UK declaring an official drought.
ALDC produces annual campaign resources to help you continue to to campaign on the sewage crisis in your local area. You can find a campaign pack to accompany this council motion here.
This updated Council Motion below uses the most recent sewage dumping figures for your council area (taken from the River’s Trust website) to call upon the Government and your local Water Company to take decisive action and make themselves accountable to local residents. It also references the rise in average water bills across all water companies that came into effect in April 2026. The national average rise is 5.4%
- You can find the 2025 data for your area on the Rivers Trust website here
- The average water bill rise for your region this year can be found here
The template Council Motion is below:
Council notes with great concern the figures recently released by the Environment Agency that show there was XXXX hours of sewage discharges in local [Rivers / Waterways / Coastal Areas] in [AREA NAME] last year.
This is despite drought being declared [in our region / across many regions of the UK]. Untreated sewage discharging is only legal in periods of extreme rainfall in which drain systems are at risk of being overwhelmed.
Across England, a total of 2.65 million hours of sewage discharging took place into natural areas last year. This is a reduction on the pervious year. However during a year of drought and record dry weather across certain months, Council believes the level of sewage discharging at both local and national level is as disgraceful and unacceptable as ever.
Council further believes that local residents should not bare the cost of water companies upgrading decades worth of crumbling infrastructure, while these companies continue to make profits. However in our region average water bills are set to rise by [XX%] this year.
Council notes the introduction of a Clean Water Bill in the Kings Speech to Parliament that promises to create a super-regulator with wider enforcement powers over the economic and environmental performance of water companies. Though this has been welcomed, many campaigners believe it does not go far enough, fast enough.
Council resolves to:
- Instruct the Chief Executive / Leader of the Council to write to the Secretary of the State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs to make clear the position of this council and to demand that all loopholes allowing water company bosses to continue to take home huge bonuses are removed.
- Invite the Chief Executive of [INSERT LOCAL WATER COMPANY] to a special meeting of Full Council to answer questions from councillors and members of the public and to establish urgent commitments and timescales to improve their infrastructure and reduce sewage discharges in [AREA NAME].
- Instruct the Chief Executive / Leader of the Council to write to environmental charities The Rivers Trust, River Action and Surfers Against Sewage to demonstrate the council’s commitments and support to work with partners to improve water quality in [AREA NAME].