The Environment Agency has said its annual report on the environmental performance of England’s nine water and sewerage companies shows that they continue to “underperform”.
The report, published today (Tuesday, July 23), shows an improvement in star ratings under the Environmental Performance Assessment (EPA), but the Environment Agency said current performance remains “well below expectations”.
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.
The aim of the report is to highlight where improvement in water company performance is required and push for continuous improvement across the sector.
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.
The number of serious pollution incidents increased from 44 in 2022 to 47 in 2023, remaining “unacceptably high” despite expectation to trend towards zero, the Environment Agency said.
Tightening standards
In response to the report findings, the Environment Agency has set out further plans to transform its regulation of the water industry.
Environment Agency chair Alan Lovell said: “For the nation to have cleaner rivers and seas, water companies must take responsibility to understand the root cause of their problems.
“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.”
As part of this, Lovell said the Environment Agency is taking forward its “biggest ever transformation” in the way it regulates, recruiting up to 500 additional staff, increasing compliance checks and quadrupling the number of water company inspections by March next year.
“Through additional resources, tightened EPA metrics and new legal powers, we will be playing our part to ensure the industry steps up on the environment,” he said.
‘These findings are shocking’
Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, Steve Reed said: “These findings are 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.
“We have announced immediate steps to put water companies under tough special measures and begin the work of cleaning up our waterways.
“The Water (Special Measures) Bill will strengthen regulation to turn the tide on the unacceptable destruction of our waterways, ensuring water companies deliver for customers and the environment and attract private-sector investment to upgrade our crumbling infrastructure.
“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.”
