The EIR is a similar set of rights to those we have under Freedom of Information, but specifically give access to environmental information held by public authorities.

Those who remember reading about the sewagemaps project in our blog post of last April will recall that the discharge of sewage falls firmly under the category of environmental information — and may be interested to see an update from the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) celebrating an increased an “open by default” culture from the nation’s water companies:

“All of the water companies we wrote to have now committed to proactively publishing information relating to start and stop times of sewage discharges.”

This follows an intervention to water companies from the ICO, reflecting the national mood around sewage discharges, and is a good example of how their regulatory powers can be applied. 

“All water companies across the UK have a legal obligation to make information about the environment available under the EIR and are required to both respond to requests for environmental information and to make information available proactively.”

That initial ICO post explained that they had issued six water companies with decision notices requiring them to disclose the start and stop time of sewage discharges, and contacted all 12 CEOs of companies responsible for sewage services to “clearly set out our expectations that [discharge data] should be made available to the public.”

Our own blog post on the sewagemaps.co.uk project has been one of our most read and discussed this year, so we know it’s a topic our followers feel passionate about — a sentiment that’s in line with the nation as a whole. So we were keen to know more, and Deborah Clark at the ICO was happy to oblige.

What was the catalyst for this activity around sewage discharges?

“It was sparked by an increase in complaints we received about water companies and a series of decision notices we issued requiring disclosure of the start and stop time of discharges. This May 2024 document was the first of many decisions where we made our position clear that such information needed to be disclosed.”

Warren Seddon, Director of FOI at the ICO, described the steps you had to take in respect to one particular noncompliant water company — what did that entail?

“We specifically directed United Utilities to proactively publish frequently requested information, which includes historic data on sewage discharges, and to include it in its disclosure log. This was the first Practice Recommendation we have issued under the Code of Practice issued under regulation 16 of the EIR.”

And he also mentioned that you’re working with reluctant companies to show them how to achieve best practice in data publication.

“Yes — we asked the other water and sewage companies to publish the data in the interests of transparency. Here’s the relevant extract from the letters we sent:

In addition to providing timely and appropriate responses to requests for such environmental information, I strongly encourage you to proactively disclose appropriate information relating to sewage discharges on a regular, monthly basis. This proactive and timely publication of the information would not only provide this important information to the public more quickly and easily, but would also be more cost effective and efficient than dealing with the alternative of numerous responses to individual requests for the information.

How much power does the ICO have in this regard?

“This positive change was achieved through engagement rather than formal and specific regulatory action. Water companies are not required by law to publish monthly data.

“We are currently looking at what regulatory activity we can do to better support proactive disclosure provision at Regulation 4 of EIR [“The EIR require authorities to proactively make environmental information that they hold available to the public by electronic means”], but this work is at an early stage — so watch this space.”

Do you have any further advice for people who are frustrated by the sewage discharges they’re seeing in local rivers and beaches? What can they do, or should they be hopeful for change in the future as a result of this increased transparency from the water companies?

“Water companies are a lot more transparent now than they were a few years ago. We will continue to take an interest in this space and we’re involved in an EIR forum for water companies where we encourage proactive publication so this increased transparency should continue. 

“At the ICO we’re concerned only with information rights, so that’s where we’re able to give advice; as a start, where possible check publication schemes and disclosure logs for relevant published information before making a request.”

Thanks very much to Deborah for taking the time to talk to us. If you’re interested in obtaining environmental information from public bodies, you should know that you can submit EIRs as well as FOI requests on WhatDoTheyKnow – there’s more about that here.

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Image: Mark McNeill