The rural affairs correspondent of the British Broadcasting Corporation.
There are pollution warnings in place for more than 100 British beaches.
The warnings are based on data from water firms and are run by the charity SAS.
Heavy rain can cause the sewage system to be overwhelmed.
The public is angry about their impact on rivers and beaches.
The discharges came after just the lightest hint of rain, according to the SAS chief executive.
He was against the use of combined sewer overflows by the water companies.
Is this a joke? He asked if they didn't know how much anger there was about their profits and pollution.
The Green Party wants the government to return the failing water industry to the public.
Over the last 24 hours, one company - Southern Water ( SW) - has discharged sewage into almost 30 bathing sites.
SW has released water that was not treated 95 times since September. Two storm discharge pipes were discharging for a long time.
Sewage discharges are only allowed in exceptional circumstances.
The combined sewer and drainage system exists in many parts of the region. Storm overflows help protect homes, schools and businesses from flooding by releasing excess water into the sea. The discharges are usually 98% rain. There are thousands of storm overflows in England.
The poor water quality has prompted the Environment Agency to warn people not to swim at more than 50 bathing water sites.
The Scottish Environment Protection Agency and Natural Resources Wales both have poor water quality warnings in place.
During an urgent question in the Commons on Tuesday, Environment Secretary George Eustice said discharges of raw sewage into waterways would be cut by 25%.
He said that this was the first government to set a requirement on water companies to reduce the harm caused by sewage discharges.
The minister went backwards on the issue, according to Lucas.
She said that there is a plan that allows water companies to continue pollution until 2035 in areas that are important to human and ecological health.
All Rights Reserved © 2024
