The majority of England’s nine water and sewerage companies continue to underperform in term in terms of the environment and serious pollution incidents.
The Environment Agency has today (23 July) published its?annual report on the environmental performance of water firms in the country.
While it shows an improvement in star ratings under the Environmental Performance Assessment (EPA), the majority of companies still underperform.
The EPA is the only independent comparison of environmental performance across the sector. Since 2011, the Environment Agency has used the EPA to rate each company in England from 1 star to 4 stars.
This year, five water companies are rated as requiring improvement (2 stars), one company is rated as good (3 stars) and three companies achieved 4 stars.
• Severn Trent Water – 4 stars, the same as the previous year
• United Utilities – 4 stars, up from 3 stars
• Wessex Water – 4 stars, up from 2 stars
• Northumbrian Water – 3 stars, the same as the previous year
• Anglian Water – 2 stars, the same as the previous year
• Southern Water – 2 stars, the same as the previous year
• South West Water – 2 stars, the same as the previous year
• Thames Water – 2 stars, the same as the previous year
• Yorkshire Water – 2 stars, down from 3 stars
In response to the report findings, the Environment Agency said water companies "must take responsibility to understand the root cause of their problems".
The agency's chair, Alan Lovell said: ““It is promising to see some companies starting to accept their responsibilities, but it is evident that the pace of improvement continues to fall short.
“We frequently tighten standards to drive better performance and we have been clear that we expect all companies to achieve, and most critically sustain, better environmental performance."
The report also found that the number of serious pollution incidents increased from 44 in 2022 to 47 in 2023, remaining high despite expectation to trend towards zero.
Over 90% of these were caused by four companies - Anglian Water, Southern Water, Thames Water and Yorkshire Water - resulting in a polarised performance picture across the sector.
Total pollution incidents from sewerage and water supply assets increased to 2,174 – the second consecutive annual increase and highest number recorded since 2019.
Compliance with numeric permit conditions for discharging treated wastewater is not improving, with 45 sites found to be non-compliant.
Defra Secretary Steve Reed said the report's findings were 'shocking'. "For too long, water companies have pumped record levels of sewage into our rivers, lakes and seas.
“We have announced immediate steps to put water companies under tough special measures and begin the work of cleaning up our waterways.
“Change will take time, and we will outline further legislation to fundamentally transform our water industry and restore our rivers, lakes and seas to good health.”
Since 2015, the Environment Agency has secured 63 prosecutions against water companies, securing fines of over £151 million.
In 2023 the agency concluded 4?prosecutions against four different water companies, with fines of more than £6.7 million.
