EU officials are to take UK to court over recent sewage spills into uk rivers
and the english channel and north sea ??
This is ironic as UK Water is owned and run by mainly EU companies !!
Uk government has been fining these companies very large amounts for this??
Whether the fines are being paid maybe another matter?? 
Hi
The UK has not been fining them a lot, it is still cheaper to dump the sewage and pay the fine than to upgrade the system.
Liz Truss, when a minister seriously cut the budget for enforcement against water pollution
Things have been getting steadily worse
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Itâs disgusting - they are doing it in rivers all over the country as well. Whatâs the point of paying our water rates if they are just going to dump it in our lovely rivers!!!
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Hi
Exactly right.
This small government and self regulation by big business is just a joke but this Government wants more of it.
Other countries can have high standards and still be profitable, we apparently are not up to the job.
Switzerland and. Singapore are two good examples of what can be done.
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I hear LIz Truss is responsible for this - apparently she cut funding to the Envrionment Agency to the tune of ÂŁ235 million 
Well done the EU
Itâs utterly disgusting here on the south coast !
The Government and an environmental charity have once again advised people not to swim or enter the water at a number of beaches along the Hampshire and IOW coastline. It comes as heavy rain have led to confirmed sewage discharges by water companies in the UK like Southern Water.
On the Isle of Wight the Governmentâs Department for Environment Food and Rural Affairs (DEFRA) and Environment Agency have this morning (August 25) listed six beaches where âbathing is not advisedâ. These include Colwell Bay, Shanklin, Sandown, Bembridge, Seagrove, and Gurnard.
Itâs an utter disgrace âŠ8hrs of rain and southern water turns the Solent into a cesspit
Southern water is making massive profits âŠwhere are the investments in infrastructure.
July 2021 Southern Water was fined a record ÂŁ90m for deliberately dumping billions of litres of raw sewage into protected seas over several years âŠ
@PixieKnuckles , The fines have been issued ! But have they been payed ??
That is the crux of the matter !!
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Hi
Yes they have but are peanuts compared to the cost of doing the work.
We need to issue a direction that the work is done or the directors go to prison until its done
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Obviously not enough fines to make them behave responsibly
So well done the EU, another thing theyâre getting right.
They have every right to protest over having our raw sewage washing up on their beaches, itâs disgusting the way our government have allowed it to continue
This is the trouble with privatising what should be a public service. The water companies are only interested in profit and to hell with the environment and providing a service
So they take the cheap option, flush sewage into waterways and sea, lose millions of gallons because theyâre too cheapskate to prevent leaks, charge us through the nose on water meters and then have the nerve to impose hose pipe bans and tell us itâs our fault and we should be saving water 
The only way to stop this pirate profiteering by private companies is by government control of prices and severe penalties for sewage offences and wasting water through leaks
But to Tory governments privatisation and profit are gods, and doubtless their are shareholders and investors among the chumocracy, so theyâll do nothingđ€Ź
There was a clause in the Brexit agreement that the U.K. wouldnât let environmental standards slip, but like most of Brexit, that was clearly another lie and the Brexiteer Tories and Boris Johnson never intended to keep to it
So the EU have every right to be fuming, they were lied to and cheated yet again 
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@swimfeeders ,Is that" Yes they have" been ssued? OR
âYes they haveâ been paid ??
I reitterate that EU Companies own majority shares in British Water !!
Its no good railing against the uk government !!
I take your point that cost of repairs would be more than paying the fines !
But privatisation was justified by saying the new management would
be upgrading the system !!
This clearly has not happened !!
Hi
You are missing the point.
It is entirely out governmentâs fault, both past and present. Sold on the cheap with no controls to control how they operate.
No other countries have done.something as stupid
@Maree , Why do you laud the EU ??
I have explained several times on this thread that the EU OWNS
MAJORITY SHARES IN BRITISH WATER !!
They are using our own shyte to smear our reputation !! 
Nope Companies based in the EU and elsewhere own much of our infrastructure
The EU itself does not, there is a world of difference.
I will repeat, no other countries have done what we have.
The world sniggers at our stupidity.
We will learn nothing until we stop blaming others
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Well said, that is exactly right. This is a problem created and perpetuated by our own government
And allowing the water companies to dump sewage in order to increase their profits by avoiding making the proper investments is disgusting
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@swimfeeders , Ah, thanks for the clarification, l take your point and
I agree !!
Previous governments should have ensured the rules were understood by
the new management before granting the contracts !!
Following governments should ensure the rules are followed !!
I get it!
But the motives and actions of the management companies still leave a
lot to be desired dont they ??
No, thatâs wrong
The EU doesnât own shares in our water system
Some of the companies who bought it up when it was flogged off are based in EU countries
They make a profit exploiting our water because our government allowed them to
But the shareholders making money from that are individuals and investors in those companies, not âthe EUâ
Because EU regulations on the environment are designed to protect, if a company was dumping sewage in an EU country, then âthe EUâ would take action against them to stop it, just as they are trying to against the companies in the U.K.
Thereâs really no wriggle room here
The U.K. is in the wrong for allowing water companies to dump sewage and not imposing severe enough penalties and sanctions to stop them
The U.K. is in breach of the clause in the Brexit agreement that we would not let environmental standards decline as a result of Brexit
The EU are right to take action against the disgusting behaviour of water companies in the U.K. and our government that allows them to get away with it
The EU are doing us a favour by adding their voice to those of us here demanding that our government take action against the water companies
The water companies arenât owned by the EU, they are owned by private companies out to make a fast buck for their shareholders and the EU are trying to restrict the harm they do in the process, unlike our government
âAlmost three quarters of Englandâs water industry is currently owned from overseas** . At least 71% of shares in Englandâs nine privatised water companies are owned by organisations from overseas including the super-rich, banks, hedge funds, foreign governments and businesses based in tax havens.â
The current problems are almost entirely the fault of privatisation, good link hereâŠâŠ
Sometimes you just have to accept that it is our country and our government that are in the wrong and not blame the EU for calling us out on it
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@Maree , But you are still calling the companies OUR COMPANIES Maree ??
They are NOT OUR companies !!
The EU should sue THEIR companies ??
Direct action is needed, not action by proxy !! 
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Hi
What could they sue them for, it is a matter between our Government and the Companies.
We are out of the EU now, free to do what we want.that was the point of Brexit.
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@swimfeeders , âWhat could they sue them forâ
Well the same thing they want to sue us for obviously !!
Fouling european beaches and fishing grounds ??
The culprits mainly live in EU and so will be easier to deal with !!
How much of any âfineâ is actually spent repairing the damage and improving things to reduce the chance of it happening again?