Category
🗞
NewsTranscript
00:00 The government has announced plans to ban the bonuses for the chief executive of water companies
00:04 found to be responsible for major pollution incidents.
00:07 Water companies have been heavily scrutinised for the amount of time that sewage is being dumped
00:11 into Britain's lakes, rivers and coastal areas.
00:15 Water companies are allowed to dump sewage during times of exceptional rainfall
00:18 to prevent their systems from becoming overwhelmed and sewage ending up in people's homes.
00:23 But the evidence suggests that water companies are doing it far more often than this.
00:27 In 2022, water companies in England dumped sewage more than 300,000 times between them.
00:33 In order to get them to clean up that act, the government says that from the next financial year
00:37 the regular offer will be given the power to block bonuses for the most polluting firms.
00:43 But the campaigners I've spoken to have said this goes nowhere near far enough.
00:46 They want the CEOs of water companies to face jail time if they're responsible for pollution.
00:51 [BLANK_AUDIO]