来源：《卫报》
原文刊登日期：2022年1月18日
English water companies have got used to pumping raw sewage into the sea and rivers. An investigation launched last year by the regulator, Ofwat, and the Environment Agency, is a chance to put things right. But there are worrying signs that this opportunity is in danger of being missed. The refusal by the Environment Agency to reveal which 2,000 sewage treatment works in England are being looked at, and whether this will lead to delays in dealing with new complaints, raises questions about its commitment to openness.
英格兰水务公司已经习惯于将未经处理的污水排入大海和河流。监管机构Ofwat和环境署去年发起的一项调查是纠正问题的一个机会。但有令人担忧的迹象表明，这一机会有被错过的危险。环境署拒绝透露英格兰哪2000个污水处理厂正在接受检查，以及这是否会导致处理新投诉的拖延，这让人们对其开放透明的承诺产生了质疑。
That the investigation is happening at all is due to huge efforts by campaigners. Discharges of untreated waste into the sea or rivers are supposed to happen only in exceptional circumstances, to reduce flood risk. Over recent years, it has become clear that rules are being routinely flouted by an industry that puts profits before environmental stewardship. At the same time, the Environment Agency’s record for punishing breaches has sharply declined following budget cuts. A report from a committee of MPs last week drew attention to the poor condition of rivers and called for a step change.
此次调查的进行要归功于活动人士的巨大努力。只有在特殊情况下，才能将未经处理的废物排入海洋或河流，以降低洪水风险。近年来，很明显，一个将利润置于环境管理之上的行业经常无视规则。与此同时，由于预算削减，环境署惩罚违规行为的记录大幅下降。上周，一份来自国会议员委员会的报告引起了人们对河流恶劣状况的关注，并呼吁采取措施。
Last summer, Southern Water was fined a record £90m for pouring between 16bn and 21bn litres of raw sewage into protected coastal waters for financial gain. It was the worst environmental crime in the Environment Agency’s 25-year history. Yet the House of Commons last year stopped short of imposing a legal duty on water companies to stop releasing raw sewage. The nine privatised water companies, which are regional monopolies, are instead obliged to make only “progressive reductions” in the amount they pollute. Now the approach of the Environment Agency to requests for information from the campaign group Fish Legal suggests an unwillingness to hold the industry publicly to account.
去年夏天，南方水务公司因向受保护的沿海水域排放160亿至210亿升未经处理的污水以获取经济利益，被处以创纪录的9000万英镑罚款。这是环境署25年历史上处理的最严重的环境犯罪。然而，英国下议院去年却险些没有强制要求水务公司停止排放未经处理的污水。作为地区垄断企业，9家私有化的水务公司被要求只“逐步减少”它们的污染量。现在，环境署对社会运动组织Fish-Legal提出的信息请求采取的做法表明，该机构不愿意公开追究水务行业的责任。
Not every company has the same repulsive track record as Southern Water. But the problem is systemic and cannot be blamed on one weak or unscrupulous board of directors. Over 11 years, £16.9bn has been awarded to water company shareholders in dividends, while debt has rocketed to £48bn. Bosses are rewarded for failure: Liv Garfield, chief executive of Severn Trent, was awarded £1.9m in bonuses in 2020, a year when the company poured untreated waste into waterways on nearly 61,000 occasions.
并不是每家公司都有像南方水务那样令人反感的污染记录。但这个问题是系统性的，不能归咎于某个软弱或不择手段的董事会。11年来，水务公司股东获得了169亿英镑的股息，而债务已飙升至480亿英镑。老板们会因乱排放而获得奖励：Severn-Trent首席执行官丽芙•加菲尔德在2020年获得了190万英镑的奖金，在这一年，该公司近6.1万次将未经处理的废物倒入水路。
It doesn’t have to be like this. Scottish Water is publicly owned, charges less, and since 2002 has invested nearly 35% more, per household, than privatised English water companies in the infrastructure upgrades that are needed to limit pollution. Welsh Water is also non-profit. The English industry’s dismal track record makes renationalisation the obvious answer. In the short term, the bodies with responsibility for regulating water must toughen up. A five-year plan from Ofwat, expected soon, must put much stronger emphasis on environmental protection. And when the public seek information about which water companies are failing, they must be given it.
事情没必要变成这样。苏格兰水务公司是公有企业，收费较低，而且自2002年以来，在限制污染所需的基础设施升级方面的每户投资比私有化的英格兰水务公司高出近35%。威尔士水务公司也是非营利组织。英格兰水务行业糟糕的记录使得再国有化成为显而易见的答案。在短期内，负责管理水务的机构必须更加强硬。即将出台的Ofwat五年计划必须更加重视环境保护。当公众寻求有关哪些水务公司正在排污的信息时，公众必须能够得到相关信息。