{"id":820958,"date":"2026-11-01T17:54:44","date_gmt":"2026-11-01T17:54:44","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/820958\/"},"modified":"2026-11-01T17:54:44","modified_gmt":"2026-11-01T17:54:44","slug":"east-anglia-responsible-for-19-of-pollution-incidents","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/820958\/","title":{"rendered":"East Anglia responsible for 19% of pollution incidents"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>\n  The incidents of pollution, reported over the past decade, were caused by private sewage systems, according to data obtained by waste management firm CSG through a Freedom of Information request to the Environment Agency (EA).\n<\/p>\n<p>\n  The request revealed that, between 2015 and 2025, there were 1,184 pollution incidents across England involving septic tanks or private sewage systems, with 224 of those (19 per cent) occurring in East Anglia.\n<\/p>\n<p>\n  Despite the number of incidents, there has been just one prosecution nationally for illegal discharges from septic tanks or private sewage systems during the decade.\n<\/p>\n<p>\n  <img   width=\"100%\" alt=\"A new potential sewage leak has been spotted on the River Gipping.\"\/>A potential sewage leak on the River Gipping, Stowmarket.\n<\/p>\n<p>\n  David Cashmore, group operations manager at CSG, said: &#8220;There are millions of people across the country who rely on private sewage systems.\n<\/p>\n<p>\n  &#8220;The vast majority are maintained effectively but we wanted to find out the extent of the pollution problem.\n<\/p>\n<p>\n  &#8220;Faulty septic tanks can cause serious issues, including <a href=\"https:\/\/www.eadt.co.uk\/news\/25985057.sewage-leak-river-gipping-stowmarket-septic-tank\/?ref=mse_al\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">polluted streams and waterways<\/a>, contamination of watercourses, bad smells and harm to fish and wildlife.\n<\/p>\n<p>\n  &#8220;Under Environment Agency rules, non-compliant septic tanks can lead to enforcement notices and fines so it is important owners take the issue seriously and deploy a robust maintenance strategy.&#8221;\n<\/p>\n<p>\n  An estimated three million UK households use cesspits or septic tanks rather than being connected to the main sewage system.\n<\/p>\n<p>\n  The EA requires septic tank owners to have their systems emptied at least once a year, or as recommended by the manufacturer.\n<\/p>\n<p>\n  Non-compliance can result in enforcement action and fines under environmental regulations.\n<\/p>\n<p>\n  However, the data also revealed a significant drop in staff responsible for enforcement with the number of enforcing officers dropping by around 40% in the last decade.\n<\/p>\n<p>\n  Nationally, incidents have risen in recent years, with 120 recorded in 2025 compared to 78 in 2024 and 89 in 2023. The highest annual total was 152 incidents in 2021.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The incidents of pollution, reported over the past decade, were caused by private sewage systems, according to data&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":820959,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[22],"tags":[1397,90,56,54,55],"class_list":["post-820958","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-environment","tag-environment","tag-science","tag-uk","tag-united-kingdom","tag-unitedkingdom"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/820958","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=820958"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/820958\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/820959"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=820958"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=820958"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=820958"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}