Water firms ‘failing to tackle pollution’

WATER COMPANIES are not doing enough to reduce serious pollution incidents which affect communities and blight rivers and beaches, the Environment Agency said.

And the sector must show “clear focus” on making water supplies resilient to climate change in the face of wetter winters which raise the risk of flooding and drier summers which make drought more likely.

There was a rise in the most serious “category one” incidents to 11 in 2017, up from nine in 2016 and from lows of just four per year in the previous two years, a report from the Environment Agency said.

Of the most serious incidents, 10 were associated with letting partially treated effluent into the environment.

And while, overall, serious pollution incidents are down from historic highs, they have plateaued in recent years, rather than following a trend towards zero.

They are happening at a rate of about one a week, the water and sewerage companies’ environmental performance report said.

The report rates how well the big nine water and sewage companies operating mainly or wholly in England have performed in the past year on pollution, managing sewage and complying with permits.

For the third year running, United Utilities and Wessex Water were the top-performing companies, and this year Severn Trent Water joined them.

Toby Willison, executive director of operations for the Environment Agency, said: “The leading companies in this report show that reducing their environmental impact can be done, so we look to companies to share good practice and improve quickly. But one serious pollution incident is one too many. We will always work closely with companies who want to do the right thing.”