For context, those raw sewage events (untreated sewage, strictly — it is usually mechanically processed but not chemically, I think) have always happened infreq

For context, those raw sewage events (untreated sewage, strictly — it is usually mechanically processed but not chemically, I think) have always happened infrequently (e.g. in storm situations). They are meant to be exceptionally rare events because sewage bubbling up into sinks is unacceptable. (This is a small, densely populated country and it has to go somewhere.) They used to be more common into the 1980s, and then regulation and modernisation caused the rates to drop dramatically. They are by no means constant events but the numbers have risen in a way that suggests that the penalties are now cheaper than the remedial work and the risk of consequences is collapsing. Not sure if the risks are on the same scale as they were before those regulations were enforced, but people are rightly concerned about the increase; we have slid down the rankings in terms of beach and river water quality in the EU: https://www.newstatesman.com/chart-of-the-day/2022/08/uk-dirty-beach-water-quality-compare-europe# https://www.newstatesman.com/chart-of-the-day/2022/08/uk-dir... I don’t think the UK is unique in this, alas, and to be fair I would still rather have this than issues with drinking water. The water that comes out of the taps in the UK is among the safest in the world: https://epi.yale.edu/epi-results/2020/component/h2o https://epi.yale.edu/epi-results/2020/component/h2o