Table of Contents
- Ofwat found the companies caused harm to the environment and customers.
- Thames Water, Yorkshire Water and Northumbria Water
Three English water companies face fines totalling £168m after an investigation found them guilty of failing to discharge wastewater.
Ofwat proposes fines of £104m for Thames Water, £47m for Yorkshire Water and £17m for Northumbrian Water after the biggest ever investigation by the watchdog.
The water industry regulator found the companies had caused harm to the environment and their customers by regularly discharging wastewater into rivers and seas instead of doing so in “exceptional circumstances” as allowed by law.
Mess: Thames Water, Yorkshire Water and Northumbrian Water could face fines of £168m in total for wastewater discharge failures
It also found a failure to sufficiently modernise assets to meet changing local needs and said they were “slow to grasp” the extent of their obligations to limit pollution caused by storm runoff.
Ofwat suggested they were failing to properly operate and maintain their wastewater treatment plants, given the “strong correlation” between high levels of spillage and operational problems at wastewater treatment sites.
The regulator will consult on the size of the fines before ordering water companies to pay them, as well as on compliance orders requiring each of them to address the problems it has uncovered.
Debt-ridden Thames Water’s fine is equivalent to 9 per cent of its annual turnover, while Yorkshire Water and Northumbrian Water’s figures are 7 per cent and 5 per cent respectively.
David Black said: ‘The level of penalties we intend to impose indicates both the seriousness of the failings and our determination to take action to ensure water companies do more to deliver cleaner rivers and seas.
‘These companies need to move quickly to correct the situation and meet their obligations to protect customers and the environment.
‘They also need to transform the way they care for the environment and focus on doing better in the future.
Britain’s water sector has faced immense criticism from politicians and environmental activists in recent years amid rising cases of sewage spills.
According to the Environment Agency, water companies were responsible for spills in England that more than doubled, from 1.75 million hours in 2022 to 3.6 million hours last year.
Water UK, the trade association for the UK water industry, attributed the rise to increased rainfall, which is the main cause of storm surges.
However, the Environment Agency said this “does not affect the responsibility of water companies to manage stormwater overflows in accordance with legal requirements”.
To clean up the country’s rivers and waterways, Ofwat ruled in July that English and Welsh water companies could spend £88bn between 2025 and 2030 on infrastructure improvements.
These improvements will be funded by an increase in household water bills of an average of £94 over five years, excluding inflation.
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