It comes as water companies have been accused of dumping sewage into rivers and the sea in recent weeks, prompting warnings of contaminated water. There have been growing calls to strip water company bosses of their multi-million pound bonuses after outrage over how much sewage is being dumped into the sea. Writing in The Sunday Times, Sir James Bevan, head of the Environment Agency, said people in the UK should be “less stingy” when it comes to drinking water that has previously been mixed with sewage, as water companies plan to recycle directly the water from flushed toilets. Sir James says this type of water is “perfectly safe and wholesome, but not something that many people are fond of”. He added that we need to “change the way they think about water” and “treat it as a precious resource, not a free good.” “We need to remember where it comes from: when we turn on the faucet, what comes out started in a river, lake or aquifer,” he wrote. “The more we take, the more we drain these resources and stress nature and wildlife. “If we are going to get there, we will all have to think differently. Some of these measures will be unpopular, so future governments will have to show political will.” Sir James’ comments come as a Channel 4 News investigation found that more than 870 water pipes in the UK could be discharging sewage without licences. Use Chrome browser for more accessible video player 2:40 Sewage alerts keep swimmers away More than 200 of them have been confirmed to be used by water companies, the broadcaster said. The Environment Agency told the programme: “Water companies have rightly been condemned for allowing too many sewage leaks and we are holding the industry to account on an unprecedented scale.” The Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs added: “We are the first government to take action to tackle sewage overflows. We have made it clear that water companies’ reliance on overflows is unacceptable and they must significantly reduce the amount of sewage they discharge. A priority . “This is on top of the ambitious action we have already taken, including setting water quality improvement targets that will act as a powerful tool to deliver cleaner water, pushing all water companies to go further and faster to to fix the overflows”.
