THE government is seeking to wash its hands of the sewage problem, Labour and the Prospect union said today following reports that environment regulators may have broken the law.

Combined sewer overflows (CSOs) are only supposed to be used after periods of unusually heavy rain to prevent the system from backing up and flooding people’s homes and businesses with sewage.

But the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra), the Environment Agency (EA) and Ofwat may have breached environmental law and allowed water companies to pollute England’s waterways outside of these circumstances, the Office for Environmental Protection (OEP) said.