Councillors call on Yorkshire Water to ‘clean up their act’ – and pay a sewage tax

Councillors are calling on Yorkshire Water to cover the cost of cleaning up York’s rivers by using the over £3m paid in executive bonuses last year.

Bosses at Yorkshire Water were paid more than £3m in executive bonuses in 2020 and 2021, despite Yorkshire water dumping raw sewage 2,909 times in York’s rivers for a total duration of 23,839 hours in 2021 alone. 

Yorkshire Water’s latest annual report shows that its operating profit grew to £242.3m (from £241.4m in 2021) with revenue increasing year on year by £17.4m to £1,118.5m.

Local councillors are now calling on a new sewage tax to be introduced on water company profits to fund local efforts to improve water quality.

The calls also follow approval of new legislation in parliament last week, which set a target of an 80% reduction in phosphates in rivers by 2038. Phosphates are naturally occurring minerals found in human waste and can lead to a dramatic growth in algae and deplete oxygen levels when they are dumped in rivers.

Councillors have branded this as a pathetic target which allows water companies to get away with a staggering 15 more years of shameful sewage dumping.

Councillor Paula Widdowson, Liberal Democrat Executive Member for Environment and Climate Change, commented:

“York’s rivers are the lifeblood of our local ecosystem and natural beauty, yet for decades, water companies have been allowed to mistreat them and get away with it.

“Whilst we have tried to work with Yorkshire Water to address sewage dumping, our pleas have effectively been ignored, with the water company claiming that nothing can be done to stop or at least minimise the use of the local storm drains that dump sewage into the Ouse and the Foss until 2030.

“Our local efforts continue to also be scuppered by Conservative MPs, who just last week voted to allow water companies to get away with polluting our waterways for years to come. The new legislation is a pathetic target which will see 15 more years of shameful sewage dumping.

“We cannot let water companies get away with spilling sewage into our waterways whilst collecting bonuses. It’s time for Yorkshire Water to clean up their act and pay their fair share to clean York’s rivers.”