By Correspondent
The UK is set to unveil a new Water Bill under which polluters will face up to two years in jail.
According to a report by the Telegram the Water Bill will be unveiled on Thursday.
It will combat regular dumping of sewage by companies.
“Executives could be held liable and face jail if their water company fails to cooperate with investigations into wrongdoing by the environmental and drinking water regulators.
The Bill also includes plans for bonuses to be blocked if water companies do not meet environmental or consumer standards.
There will also be “severe and automatic” speeding ticket-style fines for pollution incidents.
The new bill come following after public outcry over the regular dumping of sewage into waterways by water companies.
Steve Reed, the Environment Secretary, said: “The public are furious that, in 21st-century Britain, record levels of sewage are being pumped into our rivers, lakes and seas.
Sewage spills in the UK rose to a record high last year.
It had 477,000 incidents over four million hours, up 58 per cent on 2022.
The pollution of Harare’s Lake Chivero has increased the number of chemicals needed to purify water from 3 to 9.
Chivero and its tributaries are heavily polluted by industrial waste and raw sewage inflows.
In turn, this has made the exercise to purify water more expensive for the authority.
Various measures such as penalties and fines for those responsible for the pollution haven’t been effective due to corruption.
