Following the Environment Agency’s publication of its annual Environmental Performance Assessment (EPA) report, which grades the environmental performance of England’s nine water and sewerage companies, Water Minister Emma Hardy has said she will meet with the bosses of the five water companies that received a 2-star rating, to hear directly from them about how they plan to improve their environmental performance.
The report found the number of serious pollution incidents increased from 44 in 2022 to 47 in 2023 and 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. The total pollution incidents from sewerage and water supply assets increased to 2,174 – the second consecutive annual increase and highest number recorded since 2019.
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 we are taking forward our biggest ever transformation in the way we regulate, 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.”
