The Welsh Government is being asked for answers following reports of massive bonuses for the bosses of Dŵr Cymru/Welsh Water despite the ongoing sewage dumping scandal, an increase in water bills and maintenance issues.

Once again this month, Surfers Against Sewage highlighted pollution problems, issuing alerts last week for five Pembrokeshire beaches following the heavy rain and high tides.

Beaches flagged for sewage were - Manorbier, Tenby’s Castle Beach, Saundersfoot and Wiseman’s Bridge, whilst raw sewage overflow had been discharged into the sea off Newport.

By the Monday morning, Saundersfoot was the only Pembrokeshire beach still to carry the warning, in contrast to the south of England where the majority of coastal areas have been affected.

Surfers Against Sewage is a marine conservation and campaigning charity monitoring water quality at over 400 river and coastal locations. Their interactive map and app enable you to track sewage discharge in real-time, so you can swim, surf, paddle or splash without the risk of getting sick.

“The UK’s antiquated sewerage system is woefully inadequate” explains the charity’s website.

“Water companies have failed to invest to protect the coastal and river environment. They instead rely on a network of around 18,000 licensed sewer overflows to routinely discharge raw sewage into rivers and the ocean.”

The charity also combats plastic pollution and campaigns for a reduction in carbon dioxide emissions that contribute to climate emergency.

On Tuesday (March 28) at the Senedd, the Welsh Liberal Democrats called for answers from the Welsh Government following reports of massive bonuses for the bosses of Dŵr Cymru/Welsh Water despite the ongoing sewage dumping scandal, an increase in water bills and maintenance issues.

Welsh Liberal Democrat Leader and Mid & West Wales Senedd Member Jane Dodds requested that Labour Ministers explain to the Senedd why this is continuing to be allowed.

The Welsh Liberal Democrats have previously called on a ban on water company bonuses until the sewage dumping scandal is fixed and for the funds to be redirected into improving infrastructure.

Including this year’s bonus, the bosses of Welsh Water (which markets itself as a non-profit) have now received over £1 million in bonuses in just three years, despite raw sewage continuing to be dumped in Welsh rivers, seas and lakes at an unprecedented rate.

Welsh Water has also come under fire in recent months for upping water prices for customers despite these large bonuses and for maintenance problems with large parts of West Wales left without running water last year.

Commenting Welsh Liberal Democrat Leader Jane Dodds said: “We know the Conservatives have utterly failed to tackle sewage dumping, with almost all of their Welsh MPs having voted against stronger action to ban the practice. Yet the Welsh Labour Government isn’t also without power to take a stand on this issue.

“It is utterly unacceptable that while rivers continue to seriously decline in health, the bosses of Welsh Water are using the publics money to give themselves handsome bonuses rather than reinvest the money into infrastructure improvements.

“The whole thing makes a mockery of the idea Welsh Water is a ‘non-profit’. The Welsh and UK Governments must work to ban these bonuses and mandate the infrastructure improvements we need.

“Our rivers and the wildlife in them are running out of time,” she added.

At the Senedd, Plaid Cymru also demanded the “immediate” devolution of control over all water in Wales – something that was promised six years ago but is still being blocked by Westminster the Welsh Government has confirmed.

The Leader of Plaid Cymru, Adam Price raised the matter with Mark Drakeford in his Questions to the First Minister, where he asked what pressure he intends to bring to force Westminster to fulfil their broken promise.

Wales is the only country in the UK denied the right to legislate on all the water within its borders. The Welsh Government currently can only regulate water companies wholly or mainly in Wales – which excludes Severn Trent Water and United Utilities that are planning to transfer an extra 180 million litres a day from Wales to the south east of England.

This proposal which the Guardian has dubbed “the new HS2”is only a few days away from being greenlighted by OFWAT in the next stage of its project approval process.

The Welsh Government has also confirmed it doesn’t have the power to change the current low price paid by Severn Trent Water for extracting up to 360 million litres a day from Cwm Elan under an agreement from the 1980s. No such restrictions are imposed on Severn Trent, who are allowed to profit from the Welsh water they sell on to other customers.

Mr Price said: “Six years after the devolution of power over water was promised, not one drop of extra power has passed to Wales, because Westminster has blocked it.

“Welsh natural resources should be in Welsh hands – controlled by Wales for the benefit of our communities. Instead we have a farcical system whereby we are not allowed to adjust the price at which we sell water to England, but their water companies are allowed to reap enormous profits as they sell our water onwards.

“We have mere days before the OFWAT announcement on the Severn to Thames water project is due, which could see the approval of another 180 million litres a day being extracted from Wales.

“It’s imperative that power over water is devolved to Wales immediately. It is totally unacceptable that Welsh families who pay among the highest water bills in the UK will yet again lose out as we watch the profits from the onward sale of our precious water resources line the pockets of the private water companies, rather than benefit the communities from which it is taken.”

Commenting on the news that water bills will be significantly increasing to cover sewage spill prevention, Welsh Conservative Shadow Climate Change Minister, Janet Finch-Saunders MS said: “The Labour Government have skirted around the issue of Welsh river pollution for decades, despite having money to waste on vanity projects left, right and centre, it is hardworking billpayers who will have to pay more to tackle these issues. That is unacceptable.

“Not too long ago, we found out that there are over 100,000 discharges of sewage into our waterways a year. Labour Ministers are not taking pollution in our Welsh rivers seriously.

“We know that there is however, enough money to pay a £232,000 bonus to the boss of Welsh Water in a year of irregularly high sewage dumps and increased costs for people across Wales.”