Archived press release

FOE Names Top Name Polluters Likely to be Hit Hardest by Water Pollution Tax

27 November 1997

Big name industrial companies like ICI and Du Pont are likely to hit hard by the Government's announcement today on water pollution charging [1], FOE calculations reveal. FOE is expecting to welcome todays announcement - due to be made at 3.30 pm - but warns that tough regulations will still be needed to eliminate the release of toxic,persistent and/or bio-accumulative substances and that economic instruments should only be seen as part of a package of measures to reduce pollution.

The new charge could, in theory, apply to 100,000 discharges into water, but it more likely to apply to the 10,000 biggest and most polluting discharges that are regularly monitored by the Environment Agency [2]. Around 90 per cent of industrial discharges from small and medium sized companies are to sewer [3], with industry paying the water and sewerage companies £163 million for doing so [4].The water companies are likely to be hit hardest by the charges, as they are responsible for four fifths of discharges to water [5].

Around ten per cent of rivers in the UK are still considered to be of poor or bad quality [2].
Water pollution charging is already used to improve river quality in France, Germany and the Netherlands [6].

Mike Childs, Senior Pollution Campaigner at Friends of the Earth, said

“No doubt some of the top water polluters will squeal and moan about the new tax on water pollution, but the reality is that industry has been using our rivers and seas as a free disposal route for years and they are still pumping thousands upon thousands of tonnes of wastes into them. This new tax should be used to provide funds for clean-ups and reduce employers National Insurance contributions - the tax on jobs - not used simply to swell Treasury coffers. We need a truly green tax that will force UK industry to invest in cleaner technologies and reduce waste and pollution.”

NOTES TO EDITOR

[1]. Michael Meacher is expected to make an announcement in response to a Parliamentary Question at 3.30 pm.

[2]. Source: Environment Agency web pages.
http://www.environment-agency.gov.uk/s-enviro.html#contents

[3] Dr Thairs, CBI, in oral evidence to House of Lords European Communities Committee. on 27th November 1990. House of Lords, Select Committee on the European Communities, Municipal Waste Water Treatment, Session 1990-91, 10th Report, volume 2, HMSO.

[4] Water Facts '96, Water Services Association

[5] Number of discharges to water by type (1993)

Source: Environment Agency web pages.
http://www.environment-agency.gov.uk/s-enviro.html#contents

[6] Environment Taxes, implementation and environmental effectiveness, European Environment Agency, 1996.

ENDS

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