THE BOSSES of Welsh Water have awarded themselves over £930,000 in bonuses over the past two years despite pumping out raw sewage into Welsh waterways 100,000 times last year, figures from the Welsh Liberal Democrats have revealed. The bosses of Severn Trent, which covers parts of mid and north Wales also awarded themselves bonuses of £5.56 million.
An analysis of company house records by the Welsh Liberal Democrats shows that executives at Dwy Cymru were paid £2.6 million in 2020 and 2021 including £931,000 in bonuses, benefits and incentives.
The eye-watering executive pay packets and company profits were made despite the 100,000 sewage dumping events taking place in 2020 and 2021 alone.
The Welsh Liberal Democrats are calling on the Welsh Labour Government to ban new bonuses for Dwy Cymru executives until sewage offences are brought to an end. The party is also calling on Dwy Cymru and Severn Trent bosses to hand back last year’s bonuses and for the funds to be used to clean up rivers and lakes that have been polluted by sewage.
Welsh Liberal Democrat Leader and Senedd Member Jane Dodds said: “Both Labour in Wales and the Conservatives in England are allowing water companies to pump raw sewage into our precious rivers and lakes while awarding themselves obscene bonuses.
“I’ve watched first-hand as my local river, the River Wye struggles to survive. It has been given just two years until it is declared biologically dead. We cannot put off action any longer.
“Welsh Liberal Democrat plans for a sewage bonus ban would stop water company execs being paid a penny in bonuses more until our waterways are protected from sewage dumps. These bosses should be made to hand back the millions of pounds already received in bonuses to help clean up their mess.
“It’s time to send a message to the Welsh Labour Government that they cannot let water company bosses get away with pumping raw sewage into our rivers and beaches any longer. Every vote for the Welsh Liberal Democrats in May is a vote for a strong local champion who will stand up for their local community, clean rivers and countryside.”
Last Wednesday, 265 MP’s, including Preseli Pembrokeshire’s Stephen Crabb, voted with the Government to reject an attempt by the House of Lords to toughen up the approach to the discharge of sewage into rivers and the sea. 22 Conservative MP’s rebelled and voted against the Government.
The Lords Amendment 45 to the Environment Bill would have placed a legal duty on water companies in England and Wales “to make improvements to their sewerage systems and demonstrate progressive reductions in the harm caused by discharges of untreated sewage”.
Despite this Pembrokeshire MP Stephen Crabb has expressed dismay at the lack of a plan from Welsh Government to tackle storm sewage discharges in Wales, saying it was their problem. Legally speaking, in Wales, these issues are the responsibility of Welsh Government.
In November, Mr Crabb wrote to the First Minister asking for an update on what steps are being taken to tackle the issue of raw sewage being pumped into Welsh waterways. The reply stated that ‘The Welsh Government is taking an approach to improving water quality which is best suited for the specific circumstances in Wales’. But no specific plans to achieve this have been released.
The plan launched by UK Government today for England will deliver the largest programme to tackle storm sewage discharges in history. It outlines a change in how water companies tackle the number of discharges of untreated sewage. Views are sought from the public on the targets as part of a collection of measures to be considered for the final Storm Overflows Discharge Reduction Plan, which will be published in September.
Stephen Crabb said: “The amount of sewage discharged by water companies into our rivers and beaches is unacceptable. I am very pleased to see that UK Government are leading by example through imposing strict limits on when water companies can make use of storm overflows. However, devolution means these changes have little impact in Wales.”
“This issue is especially important for us in Pembrokeshire. I have previously met with Natural Resources Wales and local Surfers Against Sewage representatives to discuss what action is required. It’s a complicated and very costly problem due to the sheer amount of ageing pipework involved. But the first step is getting a plan in place to reduce the discharges. We really do need to hear from Welsh Government now on how they will use their powers to fix the problem in Wales.”
Across Wales as a whole, raw sewage, including human waste, wet wipes and used condoms, was dumped into Welsh rivers more than 100,000 times last year, for almost 900,000 hours.
