Sewage data not accurate, water boss tells MPs

A water firm boss has told MPs information released about a sewage overflow was "not necessarily accurate" because it was not measured.

Northumbrian Water's Heidi Mottram was quizzed about data, first reported by the BBC, which estimated a pumping station in Whitburn, South Tyneside, had released one million tonnes of raw sewage into the North Sea in 2023.

Ms Mottram said the estimate was "probably not unreasonable" but it was "inferred as opposed to being measured".

The Environment Agency (EA) has been approached for comment.

The one million tonne figure was provided by Northumbrian Water in June 2024 following several unsuccessful Freedom of Information (FOI) requests from resident Steve Lavelle.

It was only released after a first-tier tribunal ruled earlier that year the firm had to provide such figures.

Ms Mottram, who was speaking at an Environment, Food and Rural Affairs Committee inquiry into reforming the water sector, said an estimate was given because the resident had asked for information "we wouldn't routinely collect either for our operations or for a regulator".

In response, Liberal Democrat Alistair Carmichael MP, the committee's chair, asked: "When you say inferred, is that another way of saying you don't actually know":[]}