We should be outraged in the UK about the quality of our water, from sewage being dumped in lakes, rivers and seas. Indeed, we are at the bottom of the leaderboard when it comes to the cleanliness of our bathing waters.
While the EU has strengthened its environmental protections, the UK has drifted away from those regulations, in some cases our politicians deciding to rip up EU environmental
At the moment, we have three levels of water treatment in our sewage systems: primary, secondary and tertiary. Primary is the removal of large solids, secondary is the removal of dissolved matter, and tertiary removes pollutants such as nitrogen and phosphorus. The EU is going one layer deeper and introducing quaternary treatment, a hi-tech way of removing microplastics, dangerous “forever chemicals” and other chemicals from waterways. And they are making polluting companies pay for these new treatment centres.
