Water companies “shirking their responsibility” will be issued with guidance to help them comply with requests for data, the UK’s information watchdog has warned.
The Liberal Democrats have accused water firms of failing to disclose how much sewage had been discharged, in response to its requests for the data.
In a letter to the party’s environmental spokesman Tim Farron MP, the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) said it is planning to produce guidance “aimed specifically at water companies” to assist them in complying with environmental information requests (EIR).
The note from Warren Seddon, director of transparency at the ICO, added: “We expect to publish this guidance in the first half of 2024.”
The Environmental Information Regulations 2004 provide public access to environmental information held by public authorities.
But some under-fire water firms have failed to release information.
Mr Farron said: “These water firms are shirking their responsibility. They are hiding behind a smoke screen of utter nonsense so the public doesn’t find out the true horrors of their environmental scandals.
“Our rivers, lakes and coastlines are being destroyed by filthy sewage. We don’t know the half of it because water firms either install dodgy sewage monitors or hide the facts.
“It’s time to put an end to this national scandal. Ministers need to get tough on these rogue profiteering firms who can’t even be bothered to answer basic questions.”
Thames Water initially refused an EIR on the quantity of sewage discharged into the Thames despite the Liberal Democrats being made aware they held the data.
Water UK, which represents the water industry, said such claims were “fabricated and completely false”.
But Thames Water released the data weeks later following public pressure.
It showed 72 billion litres of sewage had been pumped into the river that runs through London.
In a letter to the ICO last month, Mr Farron said: “Each year, water firms are responsible for discharging millions of hours worth of sewage into rivers, lakes and coastlines, whilst paying their executives extraordinarily high bonuses.
“The country is now rightly scrutinising their behaviour. However, I have been
dismayed at how secretive they are, often attempting to cover up basic information which falls under EIR.
Mr Farron added: “Water firms are now committing daily cover ups of their environmental destruction. A concerning pattern has emerged of water firms withholding basic information.
“Every water firm has refused to provide information on the illegal dry sewage spills, claiming the Information Commissioner has given them justification for doing so, due to that same ongoing investigation.”
Environment Secretary Steve Barclay is set to meet with waster bosses today to discuss their failures to stop illegal storm overflows.
An ICO spokesman said: “The transparency brought about by freedom of information is an integral part of our democracy and our vision to increase the public’s confidence in those responsible for making public information available remains.
“We plan to publish additional guidance on compliance with Freedom of Information laws in due course.”
A Water UK spokeswoman said: “The UK water industry is one of the most transparent in the world with 100 per cent of storm overflows now monitored and performance data freely available on platforms like discoverwater.co.uk.
“In rare circumstances when a formal investigation is underway, data may be excluded from immediate release to allow the process to complete. The data are then subsequently published. The Information Commissioner’s Office has repeatedly endorsed this position”.
