A NEW investigation revealing the shocking scale of raw sewage dumping in waterways and on beaches will air tonight.

Channel 4’s Dispatches, at 7.30pm, will show the scale of illegal raw sewage being dumped in rivers and seas around the country.

The programme will show that more than 870 sewage discharge pipes are without permits and potentially in operation.

Without a permit, it is illegal for water firms to dump untreated sewage from these pipes, which allow sewage and rainwater to spill out during times of high rainfall. 

Using environmental information regulation requests, the film reveals that Welsh Water has 184 sewage discharge pipes without permits and says they are all in use, Northumbrian Water has 61 sewage discharge pipes without permits and says all are in use, and Severn Trent has 420 sewage discharge pipes without permits but failed to say how many are being used. 

Dispatches also reveals that four out of five large sewage treatment works that dumped untreated sewage last year did so because of a lack of capacity.  

Whistleblower Helen Nightingale, who has recently retired from the Environment Agency after 30 years, said: “The funding’s been cut massively … so we have fewer officers to go out and do the work.

“We are only supposed to attend the very serious or quite serious incidents.”

Severn Trent, Northumbrian and Welsh Water told Dispatches they are working proactively with the Environment Agency to ensure the correct permits are in place for all storm overflows.

The Environment Agency said: “Water companies have rightly been condemned for allowing far too many sewage spills and we are holding the industry to account on an unprecedented scale.

“We operate within a tight budget and must prioritise to ensure we are doing the best we can.”

The Department for Environment, Food & Rural Affairs said: “Water companies’ reliance on overflows is unacceptable and they must significantly reduce how much sewage they discharge as a priority.”

It added that under new plans, water companies “will face strict limits and must completely eliminate the harm sewage discharges cause to the environment.”

Water services watchdog Ofwat said: “We take our responsibilities on the environment extremely seriously and are pushing companies to do the same. Where we find that companies have fallen short, we will act.

“Over the last five years, we have imposed penalties and payments of over £250 million.”