HOUSEHOLDS should not be forced to pay for water company “cock-ups,” a leading union said today after firms apologised over sewage spills into waterways.

Water UK said sorry on behalf of English water companies for sewage discharged into rivers and coastal areas.

There were 301,091 sewage spills in 2022 in England, an average of 824 a day, according to Environment Agency figures, though they do not include the volume of sewage discharged.

Water UK said investors will front £10 billion to pay for improvements to storm overflows, aiming to cut the number of spills by up to 140,000 each year by 2030, compared with the level in 2020.

But customers will eventually repay all of that money with gradual rises in their bills, the trade body said.

It added that it could take between 50 to 100 years for the investment to be repaid and while all water companies will make improvements to their network, some upgrades will take several years.

GMB national officer Gary Carter slammed the “outrageous” plans to make the public pay.

He said: “Householders can’t be expected to pay for years of water company cock-ups. 

“Shareholders have been paid huge dividends and they should be putting the money in, not the taxpayer. 

“Water company chief executives are paid millions yet have the audacity to ask householders to pay more. 

“The government and regulator need to sort this mess out.”

An Anglian Water spokeswoman suggested bills would go up by about £90 per year on average to pay for the plan.

We Own It lead campaigner Matthew Topham, called the plans an “absolute rip-off.”

He told the Star: “Private water companies pollute our rivers and beaches, and we’re asked to foot the bill for long-overdue water system improvements.

“What have they been spending their enormous profits on for the last 30 years?

“The answer is as insulting as it is unsurprising: they’ve paid over £60bn to shareholders in dividends since privatisation.

“What else would you expect from private companies? Their priority is always going to be profit.

“It doesn’t have to be that way: publicly owned Scottish Water spends £72 more per household per year on tackling infrastructure problems.

“Regulation has been a demonstrable failure. We need government to bring our water system into public hands if we want to lower bills, improve infrastructure, and restore nature.”

Green Party co-leader Adrian Ramsay said: “It is outrageous that we now learn that billpayers will be left paying for the mismanagement of this vital resource for the rest of our lives.

“For decades, money that should have been invested in improved infrastructure has been trousered by water company executives and shareholders.

“Rivers and coastlines up and down the country have faced years of assault at the hands of the water companies and a government that has refused to act.”

Shadow environment secretary Jim McMahon said: “Thirteen years of Tory government failure has left a broken system, capped by an appalling track record of inaction.

“Working people have a right to a quality of life and the places where they live, work and holiday to be treated with respect and not as open sewers by the Tories.”

The Liberal Democrats have called for a ban on water company chief executives being paid multimillion-pound bonuses until sewage pollution is resolved.

The party’s analysis of Companies House records show bosses were paid £30.6 million in bonuses, benefits and incentives since 2020.

Musician and environmental campaigner Feargal Sharkey has said the water companies’ apology and sewers modernisation plan was “nothing to celebrate” as he said customers were left having to “pay them a second time” to clean up the country’s rivers.

The former Undertones frontman told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme: “We should have an apology for the suggestion they are going to put bills up by £10 billion for their incompetence and their greed.”

Environmental Audit Committee chairman Philip Dunne said the plan must look to prioritise the locations that are most susceptible to damaging overflows and “those where improvement can assist most in achieving nutrient neutrality in sensitive catchments.”

Downing Street said that the upgrades should not “disproportionately affect consumer bills.”