New National Sewage Spill Map released by Water UK

The RYA and the Clean Water Sports Alliance welcome the launch of a new National Storm Overflow Map, published by the water sector umbrella body, Water UK.

Having campaigned for real-time monitoring of sewage overflows, the launch of the National Storm Overflow Hub (NSOH) marks a significant step forward in increasing transparency and giving a fuller picture of the scale of pollution being caused by the water sector.

The creation of the map, which brings together discharge data from across England, will enable water users and communities reliant on clean water to understand when pollution is being dumped into their local river or sea.

It will also give regulators the ability to monitor overflow activity in near real-time, enabling data-driven interventions and enforcement.

While the new map represents a significant step forward, the Clean Water Sports Alliance believes that Water UK and the wider water sector must look to develop the platform further, to better protect public health.

While the new national map will inform water users whether a sewage overflow is operating or not, it will not provide any context, volume data or a description of the impact or risk that these discharges will have on public health.

In addition, the map will not provide historical data for water users to understand whether pollution is occurring once a day or once a year.

The Clean Water Sports Alliance, alongside our partners at Surfers Against Sewage and other campaign bodies, have been calling for better real-time data to enable recreational users to make informed choices.

While we welcome the increased transparency from the water industry through this new data hub, we hope that Water UK will continue to work with the Alliance to develop the platform further, to put public health front and centre. 

Phil Horton, the RYA’s Environment and Sustainability Manager, said ‘We are pleased to see this new map go live, ensuring that storm overflow data is reported consistently across England. Transparency is key to managing risk, and this is a good start. The RYA will continue to work alongside our colleagues in the CWSA to apply pressure to the water industry to further improve the information available so that water sports participants can make properly informed decisions about participation.

The transparent reporting of data is a key ask of the CWSA, but it must go hand in hand with rapidly improved performance leading to safe waters across the country.’