Ofwat has announced that it is opening enforcement cases into five water and wastewater companies as part of its ongoing investigation into how companies manage their wastewater treatment works.

Anglian Water, Northumbrian Water, Thames Water, Wessex Water and Yorkshire Water have been served formal notices to gather further information for enforcement purposes. This follows analysis of the information water and wastewater companies were asked to submit to Ofwat in late December about how many of their sewage treatment works might not be meeting requirements in their environmental permits, and what companies are doing to resolve that.

Concern about aspects of these five companies’ submissions has prompted Ofwat’s current focus. However, all water and sewerage companies in England and Wales remain subject to the ongoing investigation as Ofwat continues its review of the information it has gathered. Ofwat will keep the enforcement cases under review, and the companies in focus may change as new information comes to light.

The five companies are targeted because the information they provided in December raised one or more of the following concerns:

• it reported a significant number of wastewater treatment works which the company considers might not be compliant with its environmental permits, and/or
• it raised concerns about how overall the company manages its compliance with its environmental obligations, and/or
• it didn’t sufficiently show how the company have established whether its treatment works are meeting the requirements of its environmental permits, and so we need further information for our assessment.

There has been coverage in the FT, Guardian and Daily Mail.

The Ofwat news release and further information can be found here.