The EA report shows four out of the nine companies are falling short of expected standards – Anglian, Northumbrian and South West Water and Southern Water. Southern Water is the first company to be rated as 1 star (poor) since 2015.
Emma Howard-Boyd – the Chair’s Report
‘This report is about the 9 water and sewerage companies that provide clean (drinking) water and waste water (sewerage) services. These services are vital for people, the economy and, what this report is about, the environment. Last year’s report made clear that performance was unacceptable across the sector, this report shows performance deteriorated for the second year in a row. This comes soon after England’s shocking water classification results showed just 16% of water bodies meet the criteria for Good Ecological Status against 25 Year Environment Plan’s target of 75%. Of course water quality is not the sole responsibility of the water companies, but today is not the day for whataboutery.
The sector as a whole has now moved further away from the performance expectations for 2015 to 2020 the Environment Agency set out in 2013; 4 out of the 9 water companies are now rated as poor or requiring improvement, the worst result since 2011. South West Water has never got above a 2 star rating and the number of serious pollution incidents continued to plateau, although this was not geographically uniform: over half were due to Anglian Water and Thames Water.
I will be meeting water company chairs in the coming weeks to make it clear that we expect much more. This includes developing, publishing and implementing specific Pollution Incident Reduction Plans by the end of this year to reduce pollution incidents. We will closely follow the delivery of these plans and will apply tough regulation to ensure companies stick by them.
We know the sector can do better because some companies are. Severn Trent Water and Wessex Water have achieved the highest level of performance, and United Utilities were the best performing company for serious pollution incidents for the second year in a row. These 3 companies consistently score highly, as they rightly tell their shareholders. It’s important to recognise good practice, not doing so risks alienating the dedication, expertise and investment we all need to learn from.’