Stephen Battersby, co-founder of CROSS, said: “Whilst the Office of Water Services’ (Ofwat) figures on asset performance show that 93% of so-called critical sewers and 94% of non-critical sewers perform satisfactorily, this means that 19,000km of sewers do not.
“On giving evidence to the government’s Select Committee on the environment, water companies indicated that they make no effort to inspect or repair the 90% of the sewer network define as strategically critical, so the 19,000km is likely to be an understatement,” added Battersby
CROSS, set up in 1997, has the support of numerous environmental organisations and is chaired by Joan Walley MP.