BBC: Calls for overhaul of sewage discharge recording
Campaigners have called for changes to how sewage discharge is recorded.
Water companies currently only have to record how long sewage is pumped into rivers and not how much is released.
Professor of Stable Isotope Geochemistry at Durham University, Darren Grocke, said without this information it was difficult to accurately understand the "environmental damage being caused".
The Environment Agency (EA) said it was transforming its approach to water industry regulation with additional officers and inspections.
The call comes after sewage was continuously discharged into Windermere, in the Lake District, for more than seven days.
Water companies are allowed to release untreated sewage into rivers and seas - storm overflows - when it rains heavily, to prevent homes being flooded.
