Portal will allow water industry workers to report serious
environmental wrongdoing by their organisations.
Whistleblowing reports will be treated by specialised staff in
confidence.
Information received can be used to support regulatory action,
including criminal prosecutions.
A new portal
has been launched today (Tuesday 26 April) to make it easier for
internal water company whistleblowers to safely report serious
environmental wrongdoing by their water
companies.
In a bid to
crackdown on sewage pollution and other environmental wrongdoing,
workers are encouraged to alert the Environment Agency to any
concerns, which will then be assessed by the regulator’s expert
intelligence teams, with the identities of reporters protected
and treated as confidential sources.
Any findings
can be used to support enforcement action against companies, if
appropriate, including unlimited financial penalties and criminal
prosecution.
As well as
water companies, people working in the waste, nuclear, fishing,
agricultural, and chemical sectors can also use the portal to report concerns and they are
urged to use it if they do not feel able to raise issues with
their company directly.
Alan
Lovell, Chair of the Environment Agency,
said:
“We share the
public’s disgust with sewage pollution and know there’s always
more that can be done to protect our
waterways.
“This new
whistleblowing portal allows workers to raise their concerns and
we encourage people to come forward, knowing any information will
be treated in confidence and with sensitivity.
“The more
evidence we have to identify potential criminality, then the more
actions we can take to make lasting improvements to our
environment.”
Environment
Secretary, ,
said:
“We have been
clear we will not tolerate pollution and water companies need to
act quickly to improve their environmental performance. This
whistleblowing portal is another measure which will help the
regulator gather vital intelligence and hold rule-breakers to
account.
“It builds on our recent work to ban inappropriate executive
bonuses and plans to quadruple the number of water company
inspections by the Environment Agency – ensuring we continue to
protect our waterways with more investment, stronger regulation
and tougher enforcement action.”
The
announcement follows a series of improvements the
government and the EA has
delivered to water regulation in recent months,
including plans for a
fourfold increase in water company inspections to hold
companies to account. Subject to consultation, EA inspections will rise
to 4,000 a year by the end of March 2025 and then to more than
10,000 from April 2025. This will include an increase in
unannounced inspections – strengthening oversight of water
companies and providing greater assurance alongside operator
self-monitoring.
In addition
to 100% of storm overflows now
being monitored, data-driven analytics is helping the Environment
Agency to map discharges against rainfall more effectively,
better identifying non-compliance and taking action against
illegal activity. The cap on civil penalties for water
companies has now also been removed, broadening their scope so
swifter action can be taken against those who pollute our
waterways.
The EA is
already conducting the largest ever criminal investigation into
potential widespread non-compliance by water and sewerage
companies at thousands of sewage treatment works. Since 2015, the
EA has concluded 60 prosecutions against water and sewerage
companies securing fines of over £150 million.
Today’s
announcement builds on the whistleblowing
reports that the Environment Agency can
already receive under the Prescribed Persons (Reports on
Disclosures of Information) Regulations 2017.
ENDS
Wider
government action to improve water quality
- Fast-tracking water company investment of £180m over the next
12 months, expected to prevent more than 8000 sewage spills
polluting English waterways.
- Increased protections for coastal and estuarine waters by
expanding the Storm Overflow Discharge Reduction Plan,
prioritising bathing waters, sites of special scientific interest
and shellfish waters.
- Requiring the largest infrastructure programme in water
company history - £60 billion over 25 years – to revamp aging
assets and reduce the number of sewage spills by hundreds of
thousands every year.
- Providing £10 million in support for farmers to store more
water on their land through the Water Management Grants to
support food production and improve water security.
- Speeding up the process of building key water supply
infrastructure, including more reservoirs and water transfer
schemes.
