Up to 96 per cent of sewage spills by some water companies in the past two years should have been treated as illegal, according to new analysis.
Sewage poured into rivers, lakes and seas in England for more than 3.6 million hours in 2024 and 1.8 million hours in 2025, according to figures released by the Environment Agency (EA).
Discharges via storm overflow pipes should only happen in wet conditions, such as heavy rainfall or storms, according to the regulator.
But research carried out by Professor Peter Hammond, a retired academic and campaigner, suggests that most of the time this is not the case.
Hammond obtained paperwork from a court case involving Southern Water over illegal sewage spills in 2021.
In those proceedings, which resulted in Southern Water being fined £90m, the EA defined “heavy rainfall” as 25 to 30 mm of rainfall in 24 hours for a sewage spill to be compliant with its rules on storm overflows.
Using the 25mm threshold, Hammond compared records for rainfall with those for sewage spills by England’s nine water companies in 2024 and 2025.
He found that on average, 87 per cent of the spills happened when rainfall was below 25mm and could therefore be classed as illegal.
Among the worst offenders was Yorkshire Water, where 93 per cent of spills were under 25mm in 2024 and 2025, and Thames Water, where it was 84 per cent in 2024 and 96 per cent in 2025.
Hammond also accounted for the fact that some regions are wetter than others and therefore a higher or lower threshold for non-compliant rainfall could be applied.
For example, in the North West, he accounted for sewage spills by United Utilities with a threshold of 30mm or 35mm of rainfall.
And for Anglian Water, which operates in one of the driest regions, he analysed the data with lower thresholds of 15mm and 20mm of rainfall.
But regardless of the threshold, at least 80 per cent of sewage spills could have been classed as illegal, Hammond found.
“It’s totally outrageous, both from the point of the water companies who are exploiting the weak regulation but also from the Environment Agency’s point of view, where they’ve not been doing their job properly,” Hammond told BBC News.
Water UK – the industry body which represents water companies in England – has been contacted for comment.
It is understood the Environment Agency disputes the idea that the 25mm threshold can be used to assess the compliance of storm overflows across the country.
The figure was developed specifically for the prosecution of Southern Water but the EA says it is not used as “routine”.
There are around 14,500 storm overflows in England and each has its own permit which sets conditions on when it can be used to discharge sewage based on the amount of rainfall anticipated in the area and the characteristics of the catchment.
An Environment Agency spokesperson said: “Storm overflows must only operate in rainfall and snowmelt – anything outside of that is a breach, and we will always take action. However, to meet the strict legal requirements needed to pursue a criminal conviction, we must consider a wide range of factors including specific site and permit conditions, as well as rainfall totals.
“Monitoring is in place across every storm overflow in England, so there is nowhere for poor performance to hide. This monitoring is supporting £10.2bn of investment in storm overflow upgrades, and we are tightening regulation of storm overflows by adding spill limits to permits.
“Over the last year we have completed over 10,000 inspections of water company assets, and since 2015 we have concluded 69 prosecutions against water and sewerage companies, securing fines of over £153m.”
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