Reducing sewage in rivers and seas is public health priority, says Chris Whitty

England’s chief medical officer says 19th-century wastewater system ended cholera outbreaks and calls for similar focus now

Public health must be central to future investment in a new wastewater system to protect people from waterborne diseases, the chief medical officer for England, Prof Chris Whitty, has said.

Reducing people’s risk of coming into contact with human faecal pathogens in untreated and treated sewage discharged into rivers and coastal waters must be a priority, a report by the Royal Academy of Engineering said.