Part of the debate – in the Senedd at 4:11 pm on 15 June 2022.
Well, I really rather meant that you seemed to be trying to contrast us with work over the border, and actually it's a real problem right across the UK. So—[Interruption.] Well, I'm not going to enter into an exchange across the Chamber.
As acknowledged by the Chair, storm overflows provide a controlled point of relief at times of heavy rainfall. With more extreme weather events occurring, they perform a crucial role in reducing the risk of serious flooding of homes and public spaces, preventing sewage from flooding homes and businesses. I absolutely accept, however, that they should be happening only in extreme events and only when the rivers are in complete flood, which, of course, allows a faster travel through the river. No water body in Wales could achieve good ecological status as a consequence of addressing spills from storm overflows alone. That's not to say that they don't need to address them. In all cases, we need to develop solutions that address all other causes of pollution as well.
So, tackling overflows is one of the key priority components of the wider holistic approach that the Welsh Government is taking to improve water quality. We need a cross-sectoral, holistic approach to achieve it; we're working closely with delivery partners, regulators and the relevant sectors to identify and implement the sustainable solutions that not only deliver on desired water quality improvement outcomes, but support our climate change adaptation, improve biodiversity and deliver our net-zero target.