There has been much concern about the discharge of untreated sewage in the UK – in England, Northern Ireland, Scotland and Wales. This includes both the extent of use of storm water overflows (SWOs) when there is excessive rainfall, but also the discharge of untreated sewage when there has been low or no rainfall.

The Office of Environmental Protection (OEP) is currently investigating whether discharges of sewage are breaching the law in England.  Since the UK has left the EU the question whether such discharges are in breach of EU law is strictly irrelevant, but as much existing UK law covering sewage is derived from EU law, the interpretation of EU law is still relevant.  This paper also deals with the question whether UK and EU law diverge.

Photo by Ivan Bandura on Unsplash.