The chairman of the Environment Agency has described water companies’ performance as “simply not good enough”, after it was found that they caused more serious pollution incidents last year than in 2022.
Alan Lovell said it was unacceptable that the number of serious pollution incidents had risen from 44 to 47 and that 90 per cent of them were caused by four companies — Anglian Water, Southern Water, Thames Water and Yorkshire Water. Thames Water was responsible for the most: 14.
The four companies and South West Water were given a two-star rating by the agency, meaning they require improvement. One bright spot for the industry was that three companies — Severn Trent Water, United Utilities and Wessex Water — received the maximum four-star rating, compared with just one in 2022.
Lovell said water firms were continuing to pollute rivers because they had failed for more than a decade to invest adequately in water treatment infrastructure. He welcomed a plan by the regulator Ofwat to let companies increase bills by £94 over the next five years, saying it would allow for greater investment, but added that “it is not just about money”.
He said: “The culture within some water companies can also perpetuate poor practices. Some simply do not understand the root cause of their problems and incidents are not reported in a timely manner.”
Ofwat’s decision will see bills rise by a third less than water companies had hoped. The regulator rejected Thames Water’s request for a 44 per cent price rise to pull itself out of a financial crisis that could eventually lead to it being nationalised.
Lovell noted that climate change is putting strain on water treatment infrastructure by bringing more intense rainfall and droughts. But he added that “water companies must ensure that assets are resilient enough to withstand these challenges. We will not take ‘bad weather’ as an excuse for poor environmental performance.”
Alan Lovell, chairman of the Environment Agency, said that water companies must be prepared for the challenges of climate change
SAM RUSSELL/PA
Steve Reed, the environment secretary, described the agency’s findings as “shocking. For too long, water companies have pumped record levels of sewage into our rivers, lakes and seas. This government will never let this happen again.”
Last week the government set out plans in the King’s speech to withhold bonuses from the bosses of water companies that are failing to comply with environmental regulations and make them personally liable for firms’ law breaking.
Giles Bristow, chief executive of the campaign group Surfers Against Sewage, said the government needed to go further. “The truth is our water industry is failing us because they have been allowed to. Government turned a blind eye, hollowed-out regulators were captured by industry and the profiteering polluters ran amok.
“It’s time for a reset. Only a public inquiry into our broken water industry will show how we got into this mess and how to navigate our way out.”
The Environment Agency has said that it will recruit 500 extra staff and quadruple the number of water company inspections by March next year.
A spokesman for Water UK, the industry body, said: “While today’s results show overall water company environmental performance has improved, it is clear there is more to be done. The performance of some companies, as they acknowledge, is not improving fast enough and pollution incidents remain too high.
“Water companies have proposed investing a record £105 billion to secure our water supply in the future and stop sewage entering our rivers and seas. Ofwat needs to approve these plans in full as any less will put critical improvements at risk.”