The president of the Hauts-de-France region Xavier Bertrand alerted the government on Friday August 26 to the discharge of untreated British wastewater into the Channel and the North Sea, an “
ecological disaster
” which according to him has been worsening since .
Brexit.
"
The images, relayed by numerous international media, which show untreated sewage pouring in abundance into the English Channel and the North Sea from the beaches of the United Kingdom have caused (...) great concern due to the pollution that emanates from these discharges
,” said Xavier Bertrand in a letter addressed to the Secretary of State for the Sea, Hervé Berville.
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If this situation "
already denounced by many associations is not new, it seems to have worsened since Brexit, insofar as the United Kingdom has exempted itself from European regulations in environmental matters
", he said. added in this letter sent to the press.
"
A British legislative standard (...) exempts water companies from the obligation to treat wastewater before discharging
it into the sea", underlined the President of the Region.
This practice of the companies constitutes "
a real ecological disaster
", he estimated, wishing that the French government would ask the United Kingdom "
to respect the environmental requirements of the European Union in terms of the discharge of untreated wastewater
" .
.
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The European Commission said Thursday that it would soon respond to complaints from MEPs on the subject.
"
We are counting on the United Kingdom to honor all its legal obligations (...) in order to prevent any health and environmental damage
", tweeted Friday the Commissioner for the Environment Virginijus Sinkevicius.