I have had a very helpful explanation of the reasons for the problems of untreated raw sewage which I reproduce because it feels emblematic of the government’s unwillingness to pay attention to long-term environmental issues and the need for infrastructure investment.

Apparently, HM Treasury would not allow money to be spent on curing and repairing the problem i.e. creating more sewage works and making the developers put in treatment plants with every new building project, so that it is not just not an issue of lack of the necessary chemicals, but the capacity of the old existing system – because the work to install more sewage infrastructure would increase costs of sewage and water rents especially to council tenants, necessitating additional huge ‘drains’ for the exchequer.

So, it is not just a consequence of the MPs voting against proper treatment last October, but a wider problem.

Am also reproducing the article from the Mail on the vote last year:-

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-10125805/Fury-Tory-MPs-vote-allow-water-companies-dump-raw-sewage-Britains-rivers-seas.html