04 Sep 2025
Image description: Aerial view of sewage treatment works. Photo by Ivan Bandura on Unsplash Thames Water has unveiled a £20.5 billion investment plan as part of a rescue strategy aimed at stabilising the company and addressing longstanding infrastructure and environmental issues. The plan, outlined in documents seen by creditors, includes significant upgrades to water […]
28 Aug 2025
Image description: Tap water running into a water glass. Image by com77380 / Pixabay Britain’s water industry is under renewed scrutiny as Ofwat investigates executive pay at six major water companies. The probe follows public outrage over pollution incidents and undisclosed offshore payments. As reported by Reuters, Ofwat has contacted Thames Water, Yorkshire Water, […]
22 Jan 2025
According to reports in the media, the Treasury is seeking to keep water firm fines earmarked for sewage cleanups. Reported in The Guardian, the Treasury is in discussions about keeping the money to use it for unrelated purposes at a time of huge pressure on the public finances and rising debt interest costs. Photo […]
14 Nov 2024
Wessex Water has been found negligent after sewage leaks killed thousands of fish – with the company failing to report incidents to the Environment Agency as early as it should have. Photo credit: Rijk van de Kaa Swindon Magistrates’ Court today sentenced the company to pay a total fine of £500,000 after it […]
19 Jun 2024
The Environment Agency has successfully prosecuted Welsh Water Ltd for breaking conditions of an environmental permit at a sewage treatment works near Hereford between August 2020 and June 2021. At Worcester crown court on Friday 7 June, Welsh Water entered a guilty plea and were fined £90,000 for exceeding permitted levels of sewage effluent into […]
10 Apr 2024
Up to £11 million in water company fines and penalties will be reinvested back into a new Water Restoration Fund (WRF), Environment Secretary Steve Barclay announced this week. All water company environmental fines and penalties since April 2022 have been ringfenced to directly improve the water environment. The Water Restoration Fund will offer grant funding […]
23 Aug 2023
The Environment Agency has launched a consultation on changes to variable monetary penalties – financial penalties that can be imposed for certain environmental offences. The changes will scrap the £250,000 cap on civil penalties and significantly broaden their scope to target a wider range of environmental offences. New enforcement powers will allow the Environment Agency to apply penalties […]
23 Aug 2023
United Utilities Water Limited have been fined £800,000 after illegally abstracting 22 billion litres of water from boreholes in Lancashire following a prosecution by the Environment Agency. The Guardian reports that the company breached three-year rolling limit on abstraction licence at Fylde aquifer in 2018.
