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Pollution Events
Pollution Events
Anglian Water provide data on near real-time and historical storm overflow events from many of their water treatment works as shown below. The data indicates the duration of any recorded event, but does not provide any infomation about the quantity or quality of waste water that has been released.
The rainfall data provided indicates the total rainfall recorded at one location in Bedford for the day of the spill and the day before. Anglian Water is not allowed to discharge waste water on dry days (defined as no rainfall above 0.25 mm on that day and the preceding 24 hours).
You can explore this topic further by clicking here.
You can identify the location of each Treatment Works on the BedsGOVET Locations Map.
Cautionary Notes:
Not all waste treatment sites are equipped with monitoring equipment and so unrecorded spills may have occurred without any notification.
Faulty measuring equipment can often mean that many overflow events are not recorded and some which are recorded are not accurate.
ℹ️Anglian Water and the Law
ℹ️Anglian Water and the Law
On dry days, any discharge of raw sewage from storm overflows is considered unlawful. Storm overflows are only permitted to operate during heavy rainfall or snowmelt when the sewer system is overwhelmed. If Anglian Water allows spills on dry days, these are treated as breaches of environmental law and regulatory obligations, exposing the company to enforcement action, fines, and mandatory improvement programmes.
⚖️ Legal and Regulatory Framework
Urban Waste Water Treatment Regulations (1994)
Anglian Water must operate and maintain its wastewater assets adequately, upgrading them where necessary to prevent unlawful discharges. Dry-day spills breach Regulation 4(2), Regulation 4(4), and Schedule 2 of these regulations.Water Industry Act 1991 (Section 94)
Requires water companies to effectually provide drainage and deal with sewer contents. Systemic dry-day spills are a failure to meet this duty.Licence Conditions (Condition P12)
Anglian Water must have adequate resources, planning, and internal controls to prevent unlawful discharges. Failures in monitoring and risk management that allow dry-day spills breach this licence condition.
🚫 Why Dry-Day Spills Are Illegal
Storm overflows are designed only for wet weather. They act as relief valves when rainfall overwhelms sewers.
On dry days, there is no rainfall to justify overflow use. Any discharge is therefore untreated sewage entering rivers without dilution.
Environmental impact is greater. Pollution is more concentrated, posing higher risks to wildlife, ecosystems, and human health.
📊 Enforcement Against Anglian Water
In early 2025, Anglian Water was found to be the worst offender nationally, responsible for 1,347 dry-day spills in just two months.
Ofwat’s investigation concluded Anglian Water had contravened multiple legal obligations and required the company to invest £62.8 million between 2025–2030 to improve its wastewater systems.
These undertakings were accepted in lieu of harsher penalties, but Anglian Water remains under close regulatory scrutiny.
In short: Anglian Water is not permitted to discharge raw sewage on dry days. Such spills are unlawful, environmentally damaging, and subject to enforcement. Regulators have already imposed significant financial and operational obligations on the company to reduce and ultimately eliminate these events.
⏳Data tables are automatically refreshed with the latest data when this page is selected. There may be a short delay before they appear.
Entries highlighted in yellow indicate "dry day" discharges, which are illegal.
Note: Storm overflow detectors can give unreliable data as they are prone to failure. Rainfall values are not local to each site and may not represent the rainfall actually experienced at the site.
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