Jon Pearce Column: Cleaning up our water sector for good
I am passionate about safeguarding the Peak District’s natural beauty. It is a travesty that for over a decade our nature rich rivers have been soiled by raw sewage.
In 2023, High Peak was one of the top 50 worst affected areas by sewage being dumped into our rivers. The River Derwent and the River Wye suffered thousands of sewage overflows, with spills on average every five hours, contributing to water pollution and ecological harm.
From the start of being elected as your Member of Parliament, I was clear with the Government that this can’t go on and we needed to act urgently to save our precious rivers and waters from further harm. That’s why I was proud that one of the first actions of this Government was to pass the Water (Special Measures) Act, which introduced criminal liability for company executives who obstruct investigations, banned bonuses for bosses whose companies polluted and ensured that it was the polluters, not taxpayers, that footed the bill of sewage spills.
When I visited the United Utilities Wastewater Treatment Works in Chapel, I was glad to see the company taking action to ensure that there was adequate water storage and sewer capacity at Charley Lane to reduce flooding and improve river quality in Black Brook and the River Goyt. During that visit, I told them that I was pleased they were making an investment in our area but that I will never stop being an honest broker and I’ll continue holding them to account.
Since then, I’ve had multiple meetings with both Severn Trent and United Utilities, where I told them that they must do more to preserve the natural beauty of the Peak District.
What’s obvious with our water system is that occasional good deeds from a few companies will not fix the mess that we’re in. I share local people’s fury that we can’t keep paying spiralling prices for worse outcomes. That’s why I’m supporting the Government’s plans to clean up our water sector for good.
The Government is launching a root and branch reform of the sector, which will be the biggest overhaul of the water system since the disastrous privatisation thirty years ago.
As these reforms are put together, I’ll be pushing the Government to create a water industry that it on the side of consumers, protecting them from water companies’ mismanagement of residents’ hard-earned money - whilst also looking forward towards future proofing our infrastructure and tackling the scourge of pollution in our waterways.
Together, we can clean up our water sector and safeguard the natural beauty of our local rivers and streams for generations to come.