Britain’s Environment Agency on Tuesday lambasted the country’s water companies for spewing sewage into rivers and seas, saying the majority of them were failing to get the basics right, as it outlined plans for a tougher regulatory approach.
Years of under-investment by privately run, profit-seeking water companies in the UK have coincided with heavier rainfall from climate change and a growing population to bring the country’s water industry close to crisis.
Regulator the Environment Agency said in its annual report on Tuesday that five out of nine companies were rated as “requiring improvement,” and that the pace of progress towards making water cleaner was too slow.
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One of those five failing companies was Thames Water, the country’s biggest water supplier, which for the last year has dominated headlines for its poor environmental record and a funding crisis that means it could be nationalized.
The Environment Agency said that in 2023 there were 47 serious pollution incidents, up from 44 the previous year, and that 90% of those incidents were caused by four companies – Thames, Anglian Water, Southern Water and Yorkshire Water.
Water UK, which represents the companies, agreed that improvements were needed, and called on the industry’s other regulator, Ofwat, to back the companies’ spending plans for the next five years.
“Water companies have proposed investing a record 105 billion pounds ($135.59 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,” a Water UK spokesperson said.
Britain’s Environment, Food and Rural Affairs Minister Steve Reed called the findings “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,” he said in a statement.
The new Labour government, elected three weeks ago, has already outlined steps to introduce new fines for water companies, increase monitoring for spills and ensure money is spent on infrastructure upgrades and not executive bonuses.
For its part, the Environment Agency said it would recruit 500 additional staff and quadruple the number of water company inspections by March next year.
Water UK said that since 2011 the Environment Agency had repeatedly tightened targets.
Severn Trent, United Utilities and Wessex Water were all given the top rating for environmental performance by the Environment Agency. It says all companies should be able to achieve that.
Severn Trent said on Tuesday it was confident it could halve its spill rate by 2030.
But doing so requires investment. Thames Water, Britain’s biggest water supplier, is trying to raise new equity before it runs out of cash by next May.
($1 = 0.7744 pounds)
(Reporting by Sarah Young; editing by Jan Harvey)
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