Failures in regulating discharges of untreated sewage into rivers • R (Wild Justice) v Water Services Regulation Authority [2023] EWCA Civ 28

Abstract

Introduction. The appeal against the decision not to permit a judicial review was at its heart concerned with a challenge to the respondent Office for the Water Regulator (Ofwat) for its alleged shortcomings in regulating sewage discharges. The appellant (WJ) is a not-for-profit company, which advocates to promote better conservation of wildlife in the UK, to encourage greater public participation in issues related to nature conservation, and to provide a means to forward the interests of wildlife in UK law, policy and practice via the legal system. Of late there has been significant controversy around the way in which discharges of untreated sewage have been undertaken by the numerous water utilities, which are sewerage undertakers, as well as the regulatory response from responsible agencies. The case considers the interplay between the obligations imposed via UK specific legislation in the Water Industry Act 1991 (WIA) and the Regulations adopted for England and Wales consequent upon the Urban Waste Water Treatment Directive 1991.