The Environment Agency has today (13 July) released its annual report on the environmental performance of England’s nine water and sewerage companies.

Whilst there were improvements in 2020, no single company achieved all the expectations for the period 2015 to 2020. These included the reduction of total pollution incidents by at least one-third compared with 2012 and for incident self-reporting to be at least 75%.

The sector coped well with Covid-19 pressures in 2020 and recently committed over £850m to help contribute to a green recovery from the pandemic. However, a number of companies are still failing to live up to their responsibilities to regulators, their customers and the environment.

Since 2011 the EA has used the Environmental Performance Assessment (EPA), which rates each company in England from 1 star to 4 star, for performance on environmental commitments such as pollution incidents and treatment work compliance. Where these commitments are not achieved, companies will face underperformance penalties, with Ofwat having new powers to levy fines from 2020.

The report shows:

• Southern Water and South West Water were rated as 2 star (requiring improvement)
• Anglian Water and Thames Water were rated as 3 star (good)
• Five companies (Northumbrian Water, Severn Trent Water, United Utilities, Wessex Water and Yorkshire Water) achieved 4 stars, although certain improvements are still required
• 2015-2020 expectations, including full compliance for waste water discharge permits and a 50% reduction in serious pollution incidents compared with 2012, have not been met
• Severn Trent Water, United Utilities and Wessex Water sustained the highest level of performance for most of the last five years

Serious pollution incidents declined for the second year in a row to the lowest number ever – but while there were 285 fewer total pollution incidents than in 2019, it was still the second highest number of total incidents since 2015.

Southern Water and South West Water both performed significantly below target for this metric, Southern Water for the second year in a row and South West Water for the tenth year in the row. Both companies’ performances have been consistently unacceptable. Over half of serious incidents were also due to Anglian Water and Thames Water.

The results come the week after Southern Water was sentenced to pay a record-breaking £90m fine after pleading guilty in court to 6971 unpermitted pollution discharges. The successful Environment Agency investigation was the biggest the regulator has ever conducted, making clear that polluters will be made to pay for damage to the environment. Earlier this year Thames Water was also fined £4 million and £2.3 million for separate pollution incidents.

Environment Agency Chair Emma Howard Boyd said:

Over half the water sector is now achieving the highest industry rating, showing that clear targets and regulatory focus combined with investment in the environment delivers change in the water sector. But, some companies are still failing in their duty to the environment and there remains a tendency to reach for excuses rather than grasp the nettle. As last week’s £90m fine for Southern Water showed, environmental laws must not be undermined.

I have been meeting water company chairs in the last few weeks to set out our expectations for them to redouble their efforts to improve or maintain their environmental performance, something which continues to be a priority for both customers and shareholders.

Environment Minister Rebecca Pow said:

Water companies have environmental responsibilities and they must realise them. They have a legal duty to avoid pollution to our rivers and other waterways.

This report which spans the last 12 months makes for extremely disappointing reading. Even the industry-leading water companies have more work to do, especially on the use of storm overflows.

Getting the basics right is critical for water companies and then they need to go further in playing their part in achieving a higher level of ambition for our precious water environment. On these grounds I will not hesitate to set higher expectations for both water companies and regulators to ensure a level of service that the people of this country and the environment deserve.

In light of the annual report results, Environment Agency Chair Emma Howard Boyd has already met all water company chairs, while Environment Secretary George Eustice and Environment Minister Rebecca Pow will be meeting Southern Water and South West Water respectively in the coming months.

Following enforcement action taken by Ofwat on Southern Water in 2018, the company has a package of undertakings to deliver, including steps to improve investment and performance at its wastewater treatment works and to increase transparency for customers about its environmental performance.

And as a result of South West Water’s consistent poor performance on the EPA, the company has a bespoke performance commitment with Ofwat to ensure they are aiming to achieve and maintain 4-star status from 2023-2025.

Other action Defra and the Environment Agency are taking includes:

• The Storm Overflows Taskforce, set up in 2020, will continue to push forward its commitment to eliminate harm from storm overflows and increase monitoring and transparency from the companies. New legal duties on water companies have already been included in the Environment Bill.
• Reviewing regulatory actions, such as inspections, audits and data checks, and continuing to challenge companies to address areas where performance needs to improve, including getting to the root cause of non-compliance and pollution incidents, with more targeted plans for issues including sewer blockages.

David Black, Interim Chief Executive at Ofwat said:

It’s disappointing to see repeat poor performance from some companies who are failing to take their responsibilities seriously enough. Addressing environmental challenges remains a top priority for water companies and the performance of some companies falls well short of what customers expect. We are pleased to see the performance of the leading companies in the sector, which demonstrates what can be achieved with focus and attention.

A step-change in culture and commitment is required if the sector is to fundamentally change the way it delivers for customers and the environment. Our work with government, the Environment Agency and other stakeholders will continue to ensure we hold companies to account so that the environment is left in a better condition for generations to come.

Your Excellencies,

I am very pleased to present this critical resolution on girls’ education, together with our partners, the United Arab Emirates. I want to thank delegations for their constructive engagement on the text of this resolution.

We all know that educating girls creates empowered women who can lift their communities out of poverty, grow their economies and shape the destinies of their countries. And the pandemic has set back this vital cause. We estimate approximately 11 million girls are at risk of never returning back to school. So we have got to redouble our efforts.

This is a major international priority for the United Kingdom and we have put it at the heart of our G7 Presidency. At last month’s G7 summit, leaders focussed on new targets to get 40 million more girls into education, and 20 million more girls reading by the age of 10. This is a major step forwards to delivering the commitment to 12 years of quality education for all girls.

The resolution that we are presenting today calls on States to really get behind this ambition. It would mark the first time that at the UN, we have agreed a document recognising the importance of ensuring access to at least 12 years of quality education for all girls. And I am pleased that, at the time of recording this message, more than 60 states have already given their support.

The resolution calls on governments to address and eliminate the barriers that girls face in accessing quality education, things like child marriage, the lack of access to sexual and reproductive health services. So we should all get behind this effort, which will be absolutely crucial to delivering the Sustainable Development Goal 4 to “Ensure inclusive and equitable quality education and promote lifelong learning opportunities for all.”

And I hope we will all also be supporting the work of the Global Partnership for Education, the largest global fund solely dedicated to transforming the education opportunities in low income countries. The UK will be hosting the Global Education Summit with Kenya later on this month to raise funds for this vital cause.

At the G7 the UK led by example, we put in the largest ever pledge we have ever made to the GPE of £430 million. And together with our G7 partners we agreed a total pledge of at least $2 billion of funding over the next 5 years. So we call on others to make ambitious pledges as well, to back up the G7’s efforts, so that we can get towards the target of £5 billion over this period.

For the good of the next generation, it is time for the world to step up and deliver on girls’ education and I urge all Members of the Human Rights Council to really put their shoulders to the wheel and get behind this important resolution.

We use some essential cookies to make this website work.

We’d like to set additional cookies to understand how you use GOV.UK, remember your settings and improve government services.

We also use cookies set by other sites to help us deliver content from their services.

We use some essential cookies to make this website work.

We’d like to set additional cookies to understand how you use GOV.UK, remember your settings and improve government services.

We also use cookies set by other sites to help us deliver content from their services.