England’s water companies failed to report more than 50,000 sewage discharges within the legally required timeframe in the first half of 2026, according to new analysis by the campaign group Surfers Against Sewage (SAS).

Under rules introduced in January 2025, water companies must report sewage discharges within 60 minutes so the public is aware when sewage is entering the water. 

SAS’s 2026 Water Quality Report found that all nine of England’s water companies breached the requirement, and that more than 4,000 of the delayed reports related to designated bathing waters monitored by the Environment Agency. Yorkshire Water was the worst offender, failing to publish data in time for more than 13,000 discharges.

“Water companies have systematically failed to report sewage discharges on time more than 50,000 times this year,” said Giles Bristow, SAS’s chief executive. “That’s a threat to public health, and it’s illegal.”

The report also found that at least 70,400 hours of sewage were discharged on dry days in the first six months of the year, across 7,450 “dry spills”, according to freedom of information data. Water companies are only permitted to use storm overflows during heavy rainfall, and the figures come in a summer that was the hottest on record for the UK.

Looking at the wider picture for 2025, sewage was discharged into UK waters for more than three million hours, the equivalent of 342 years of continuous flow. England’s water companies were responsible for more than 1.8 million of those hours, an average of 5,100 hours a day. 

Bathing water sewage alerts were in place for a total of 24,771 days across the UK, an average of 37 days per bathing water.

The report also highlights the public health implications. Between January and August 2026, 1,687 people told SAS they had become ill after using rivers, lakes and beaches, already more than the 1,568 reports received in the whole of 2025. Illnesses ranged from E. coli and campylobacter infections to ENT infections and, in extreme cases, hospitalisation. 

Reports submitted since January 2025 amount to 5,222 days off work. SAS said the figures capture only cases reported to the charity and are likely to be a fraction of the true total.

Loretta Cox, a swimming coach who became severely ill with an E. coli infection after a training swim off Looe, Cornwall, in water rated “good” by the Environment Agency, said it “must stop”. Peter Selley, a retired doctor, said it was “remarkable” there was no coordinated response for medical professionals to diagnose, record and report illness from polluted water.

The findings come as the Government prepares to introduce a water bill. Prime Minister Andy Burnham told the Labour conference last month that it would repeal the ban on public ownership of water companies and give mayors new powers to hold companies to account.

Mr Burnham told the Labour conference: “Water is a symbol of what has gone wrong with Britain, a service where the shareholders never lose and the public never win, from which some have syphoned out easy money while the public picked up the bill for the sewage in our seas. It stinks.”

The new water bill, he said, will initiate a 10-year journey to a different water system, one which places a greater emphasis on public control. 

This includes measures like: majors having new powers to hold water companies to account, harsher penalties for companies which repeatedly fail, closing loopholes used to pay excessive bonuses, and taking back ownership or control of private water companies which do not serve the public’s interest.

Under the current Water Act 1989, there are limits on government ownership of shares in major water and sewerage companies, these limits vary between 1% and 3%, depending on the company.

Bristow said the charity Surfers Against Sewage: “Won’t ease off until our water industry is owned and run in the public interest, putting our health and wellbeing before shareholder returns”.

The charity is encouraging the public to take part in a Mass Lobby from 22 to 26 October, in which people will meet their MPs to push for change.

Click here for more from the Oceanographic Newsroom