Image source, Getty Images
- author, Falea Massoud
- role, BBC News Business Reporter
-
All 11 water and sewerage companies in England and Wales are under investigation over sewage spills after regulators announced they were widening their investigations.
On Tuesday, Ofwat launched enforcement cases against four more companies – Dŵr Cymru Welsh Water, Hafren Dyfrdwy, Severn Trent and United Utilities – as part of its investigations into how the companies manage their wastewater treatment plants and sewer networks.
The ministry is set to begin investigations in 2021 and companies could face fines if violations are found.
Ofwat chief executive David Black said the move showed “how concerned we are about the industry's environmental performance”.
Water suppliers are facing increased scrutiny over their environmental and financial performance, as well as executive bonuses and remuneration.
In May the BBC found that millions of litres of raw sewage had been illegally discharged into one of England's most famous lakes, Windermere in the Lake District, after a fault, and that United Utilities had failed to stop what turned out to be illegal pollution.
Water companies can discharge untreated sewage into rivers and the ocean when it rains to prevent flooding of homes, but such discharges are illegal when it isn't raining.
Announcing the four companies that would face new enforcement action, Ofwat said its investigations had highlighted “concerns that these companies may not be meeting their obligations to protect the environment and minimise pollution”.
The regulator has already launched enforcement action against Anglian Water, Northumbrian Water, South West Water, Thames Water, Wessex Water and Yorkshire Water.
Southern Water also remains under enforcement supervision, according to Ofwat, following an incident in 2019. The company pleaded guilty to 6,971 “unauthorised sewage discharges” in 2021 and was fined £90 million.
“We will continue to act where companies are found to be in breach of their obligations – we have imposed more than £300 million in fines and payments on water and sewerage companies in recent years,” Mr Black said.
“We understand and share people's concerns about the health of the environment and the operation of our wastewater treatment system,” United Utilities said in a statement.
A Hafren Dyfrdøy spokesman said the company was “ensuring that waterways in Wales are not a cause of unhealthy water by 2030” and would “rapidly reduce” polluting runoff.
Severn Trent said it had recently announced a programme worth £1 billion to reduce its impact on the river to “near zero by 2030”.
“We are not going to run away from the challenges we face,” Dur Kamri said.
In its annual report last year, the Environment Agency said the number of serious pollution incidents was “unacceptably high” and water companies needed to “act more quickly and swiftly”.
