George Monbiot’s article correctly identifies the sources of river pollution (At last, England’s dying rivers are an election issue – and the danger isn’t just sewage, 3 May), but his focus on water utilities as the villains of sewage pollution is too narrow. Water companies in England and Wales are, theoretically, highly regulated – but the Environment Agency and Ofwat have failed to perform, and thus facilitated the mess that we are now in.
The situation has been further aggravated by planning authorities approving new developments, knowing that wastewater infrastructure is insufficient to cope with the additional loads.
