All water firms admit sewage discharge breaches

Environment Agency and Ofwat may fine companies over potentially illegal amounts of waste in rivers

ALL of England’s combined water and sewage companies have admitted pumping what are likely to be illegal levels of waste into rivers, the Environment Agency has disclosed.

The public body will investigate the firms to assess the scale of the problem and can impose unlimited fines, it announced yesterday.

The regulator Ofwat will also ask the companies to justify executive bonuses and dividends, and provide evidence that they have taken into account their environmental performance and compliance with their obligations.

Rebecca Pow, an environment minister, said water companies should spend more on “better infrastructure and far less on payouts to shareholders”.

The Environment Agency can impose unlimited fines if it brings criminal proceedings, while Ofwat can fine companies up to 10 per cent of their turnover. Earlier this year, Southern Water was told to pay a record £90million fine after pleading guilty to thousands of illegal discharges of sewage into rivers and coastal waters in Kent, Hampshire and Sussex.

The investigation came after the Environment Agency asked water companies to install monitors on their sewage facilities to check they were staying within legal limits.

Sewage should only be discharged from facilities in exceptional circumstances, such as intense rain or floods.

Before they had added the monitoring devices, water companies admitted to the agency that they were likely to be in breach of current regulations.

“This new information is shocking and wholly unacceptable,” Ms Pow said. “We have been repeatedly clear in Parliament in recent weeks that we need to tighten up existing rules but also raise standards across the board when it comes to protecting our rivers.”

She added: “I want to see water companies spending far more on better infrastructure, and far less on payouts to shareholders.”

Water companies have come under intense scrutiny in recent weeks over repeated discharges of sewage into England’s rivers and coastal waters.

The Government was also heavily criticised for blocking an amendment to the new Environment Bill that would have put a legal duty on water companies to “take all reasonable steps” to stop sewage overflows.

After an apparent about-turn in the wake of the vote, ministers added a duty on the firms to “secure a progressive reduction”, though many campaigners argued that it was a watering-down of the earlier proposal.

Emma Howard Boyd, chair of the Environment Agency, said: “Any water companies in breach of their permits are acting illegally. This is a major issue of public trust.”

A spokesman for Water UK, the industry body, said: “The water industry is committed to the best possible environmental outcomes.”