To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, who is responsible for defining the content of storm overflow discharges.

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, for what reason a storm overflow that is at least 95% rainwater is defined as raw sewage.

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, whether his Department plans to take steps to test storm overflow water to ensure that it is accurately defined.

Storm overflows are permitted by the Environment Agency (EA) following our published guidance. Discharges from storm overflows as are referred to as “storm sewage”, which in most part is the combination of “foul sewage” (domestic and trade wastewater) and “rainfall runoff”.

Under the Environment Act 2021, sewerage undertakers will be required to monitor sewerage assets and the impact they have on the local environment. In April 2023, we consulted on Continuous Water Quality Monitoring and Event Duration Monitoring. Our consultation response published in September 2023 detailed our plans for a new water quality monitoring programme, which will place a duty on water companies to publish near real time information on the impact of sewage discharges.