Can I thank the Member for Blaenau Gwent for bringing this forward, and for his introductory speech, which captured so many things that I think we'll all agree with? There's no doubt about it, sewage discharge is very important and very topical; I think there is little that occupies my inbox more than this at the moment, especially in our area. Recent statistics have shown that raw sewage was dumped into Welsh rivers more than 100,000 times, for almost 900,000 hours, during 2020. In fact, Tintern, in my own constituency, saw some of the highest numbers of sewage releases in south-east Wales in 2020, recording 263 releases over 1,489 hours. These are absolutely staggering numbers.

The River Usk is particularly affected by this issue. It has experienced a number of release events in recent years, over and above those that have happened due to high rainfall, and that is the big bone of contention. Last year we know an investigation by Panorama—we all saw it—found that the Aberbaiden treatment plant in Usk illegally dumped untreated sewage into the River Usk on 12 consecutive days in December 2020. And it was discovered that there was also a Welsh Water-owned sewage overflow pipe into the River Usk that didn't have a permit. Now, I know these issues have since been looked into and are being worked on by Welsh Water. However, concerns remain as to how fast the required sewage disposal infrastructure can be put in place to mitigate against sewage discharge, and that's all across Wales. So, there is also concern and frustration expressed regularly, certainly by constituents, that our regulators are not taking robust enough action on those who knowingly pollute, and that includes water companies. 

As we're all aware, the release of sewage into the natural environment, as we've already heard, even when absolutely unavoidable, results in pollution and reduces water quality, as well as harming wildlife, and it's clear, then, that more action is needed to cut down on such incidents across Wales. However, I realise that there isn't an easy fix, and that companies are taking some action to reduce the impact of overflows on the environment. For example, I'm aware that Welsh Water have been working with NRW to identify CSOs that do not have a permit so they can be regularised and put into the improvement programme. But there is more to do, and that is why I'm supporting the proposed Bill set out by Alun Davies. There needs to be more of an onus on water companies to take steps to ensure that the release of sewage is an exception rather than the norm. Diolch, Dirprwy Lywydd.