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The Guardian - UK
The Guardian - UK
Politics
Sandra Laville

Water firms in England urged to upgrade sewage works for new homes

A Thames Water sewage treatment plant.
A Thames Water sewage treatment plant. Councillors in Oxfordshire are calling for conditions on developments stating they must not be occupied until the firm has upgraded plants. Photograph: Cultura Creative Ltd/Alamy

Campaigners are intervening to prevent new houses being occupied in several areas of England until sewage treatment works are upgraded to cope.

In Oxfordshire, the Cotswolds and in Cumbria, the failure of water companies to invest in sewage infrastructure means new homes would just add more sewage into treatment works that are at or beyond capacity, and increase pollution into rivers, they say.

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