Three water compaies have been hit with massive fines for breaching sewage pollution rules
Thames Water has been fined £104m, Yorkshire Water £47m and Northumbrian Water fined £17m
The regulator Ofwat says it is still considering cases against other water companies including the North West’s supplier United Utilities
The penalties says the regulator, result from severe mismanagement of sewage treatment works, including systemic failures in the use of storm overflows, causing extensive environmental damage and customer impact.
Companies will not be able to recover the money for any proposed penalties from customers and Ofwat will ensure that customers are not charged twice where additional maintenance is required.
Ofwat’s Chief Executive David Black said:
“Ofwat has uncovered a catalogue of failure by Thames Water, Yorkshire Water and Northumbrian Water in how they ran their sewage works and this resulted in excessive spills from storm overflows. Our investigation has shown how they routinely released sewage into our rivers and seas, rather than ensuring that this only happens in exceptional circumstances as the law intends.
“The level of penalties we intend to impose signals both the severity of the failings and our determination to take action to ensure water companies do more to deliver cleaner rivers and seas.
“These companies need to move at pace to put things right and meet their obligations to protect customers and the environment. They also need to transform how they look after the environment and to focus on doing better in the future.
“Looking to the future we want transform companies’ performance under our new price control that starts in April next year, so we reduce spills from sewage overflows by 44 per cent by 2030 compared to 2021 levels.”
