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Government faces new legal challenge to force water companies to take urgent action against sewage discharge
Members of the public from Hastings and St Leonards Clean Water Action, protest against raw sewage release incidents on the beach in St Leonards, Sussex August 2022

THE government is facing a new legal challenge to force water companies to take urgent action against sewage discharge in rivers and coastal waters.

Good Law Project, along with environmental groups, launched the challenge against Environment Secretary Ranil Jayawardena today to compel him to rewrite the plan for storm overflows discharge reduction and impose tougher targets on water companies.

In England alone, there are around 14,500 storm overflows in operation to stop sewers from becoming overwhelmed, with companies using the measure more frequently.

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