The agency said water companies’ performance on pollution fell to the worst it has seen in years. It calls for jailing executives and board members if they oversee serious, repeated pollution because they appeared undaunted by enforcement action and court fines for breaking environmental laws. Emma Howard Boyd, chairman of EA, said: “The fines currently imposed by the courts often amount to less than a chief executive’s salary… Investors should no longer see England’s water monopolies as a one-way bet.” . The environmental performance rating published Thursday by EA gives star ratings to the companies. Southern Water and South West Water were rated one star – meaning poor performance – while four companies: Anglian, Thames, Wessex and Yorkshire, were rated just two stars – meaning they require significant improvement. Seven water companies oversaw an increase in serious incidents compared to 2020, with 62 serious pollution incidents for 2021 – the highest since 2013. There were eight of the more serious Category 1 incidents, compared to three in 2020. Seven of the nine water companies were responsible for the increase in serious incidents compared to 2020. The report said: “The industry’s performance on pollution has been shocking, far worse than in previous years… Company managers have allowed this to happen and it is simply unacceptable. Over the years, the public has seen water company executives and investors handsomely rewarded while the environment pays the price. Water companies behave this way for a simple reason: because they can. We intend to make it very painful for them to continue as they are.” Northumbrian Water, Severn Trent Water and United Utilities performed more positively and retained four-star ratings. However, the EA said there had been no overall improvement over several years in the overall number of incidents or compliance with conditions for the discharge of treated sewage. Growing public outrage over the scale of sewage discharges into rivers and coastal waters has forced the agenda into the mainstream political debate. Citizen scientists and communities across the country provide evidence on corporate pollution of waterways. Howard Boyd said: “It is appalling that the performance of water companies on pollution has reached a new low. “Water quality will not improve until water companies understand their operational performance. For years people have seen executives and investors being handsomely rewarded while the environment pays the price. “The company’s managers let it happen. We intend to make it very painful for them to continue like this. “ EA wants to see company directors sacked after overseeing illegal environmental damage. The EA and Ofwat are carrying out a major investigation into the discharge of raw sewage into waterways by companies, following shocking failures by the majority of companies. The investigation was launched after water companies admitted they may have been illegally dumping sewage into rivers and seas for years. Water companies are allowed to self-report violations of permits that allow them to release raw sewage in exceptional cases through storm overflows. Evidence from Professor Peter Hammond that water companies were responsible for 10 times more sewage discharge than they disclosed, provided to MPs, helped force agencies to toughen their stance against the companies. The EA report on Thursday said water companies did not report the total number of pollution incidents. Self-reporting remained at 77%, which was below target. Thames Water’s performance was significantly below target with only 65% of incidents self-reporting. Southern Water and South West Water performed well below target for how they complied with the permits that allow them to occasionally release raw sewage from their treatment operations. Hugo Tagholm of the charity Surfers Against Sewage said: “The stench of environmental vandalism and rampant profiteering hangs permanently over the water industry. The industry has failed catastrophically and urgent legislative and legal action must be taken to prevent a few industry fat cats from robbing the nation of clean rivers and coasts, thriving with life.” Subscribe to First Edition, our free daily newsletter – every morning at 7am. BST A Defra spokesman said: “This report shows that water companies are ignoring their legal responsibilities. The heads of the water companies cannot continue to make huge profits while polluting our waters. “We will not tolerate this behavior and will take strong action if we do not see urgent improvements.”
