Petition · past parliament

Stop payment of dividends for water companies discharging sewage

Rejected 21 signatures

What the petition asks

Legislate against dividends being paid out for companies who regularly discharge sewage into rivers or sea.
Fines are clearly not enough disincentive for companies to desist. Shareholders need a stronger reason to drive change.
Dividend funds could be invested in infrastructure improvements until no longer needed.

Why it was rejected

It asked for something that is not the responsibility of the UK Government or Parliament.

The payment of dividends is a matter for individual companies, not the UK Government or Parliament. You could start a new petition calling for a windfall tax to be introduced on the profits of water companies found discharging sewage, if that's something that you'd like to see.

We currently have this petition open calling for water companies to be renationalised: Renationalise water

Timeline

1 Dec 2022 Petition opened for signatures
21 Dec 2022 Rejected by the Petitions Committee

Key facts

Signatures 21
Status Rejected
Rejected 21 Dec 2022

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Source: the official petition page. Last checked 15 Jul 2026.