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Serious pollution incidents up 60% in 2024 from previous
year, new report shows
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Three water companies responsible for 81% of serious
incidents
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Environment Agency now has greater powers and more funding
than ever to hold poor performers to account
The number of water company pollution incidents across England
rose sharply last year, a new report from the Environment Agency
has found. The report shows consistently poor performance from
all nine water and sewerage companies in the region, with serious
pollution incidents in 2024 up 60% from 2023.
The Environment Agency (EA) assesses all pollution incidents,
with category 1 (major) and category 2 (significant) incidents
being the most serious. In 2024, 75 category 1 and 2 incidents
were recorded, a steep rise from 47 serious incidents the
previous year. 81% of these serious incidents were the
responsibility of just three water companies – Thames Water (33
incidents), Southern Water (15 incidents) and Yorkshire Water (13
incidents). All pollution incidents (category 1 to 3) have
increased by 29%: last year water companies recorded 2,801
incidents, up from 2,174 in 2023.
The EA is particularly concerned about the increasing trend in
pollution spills from pipes carrying wastewater uphill – these
accounted for 20% of the serious incidents in 2024 and impacted
some protected waters for wildlife and swimming.
Reasons behind the 2024 results include persistent
underinvestment in new infrastructure, poor asset maintenance,
and reduced resilience due to the impacts of climate
change.
Last financial year, the EA carried out over 4,000 inspections of
water company assets. With more inspections, the EA discovers
more non-compliance: last year 24% of sites breached their
permits. The EA is clear that none of these factors, including
wet weather, can excuse the unacceptable number of incidents last
year, and water companies must meet their legal obligations to
the environment and communities or face enforcement
action.
Alan Lovell, Chair of the Environment Agency
said:
This report demonstrates continued systemic failure by some
companies to meet their environmental targets.
The water industry must act urgently to prevent pollution from
occurring and to respond rapidly when it does.
We have made significant changes to tighten our regulation of the
water industry and ensure companies are held to account. With a
dedicated larger workforce and increased funding, our officers
are uncovering and acting on failures to comply with
environmental law.
The EA's expectations for water companies are set out in
the Water Industry Strategic
Environmental Requirements (WISER) guide, which states
there should be a trend to zero serious pollution incidents by
2025, a reduction in all pollution incidents and high levels of
water company self-reporting. It is evident that some companies
are failing to meet these targets.
Under the Water (Special Measures)
Act, the EA will have greater powers to take swift action
against polluting companies, allowing them to close the justice
gap and ultimately deter illegal activity from happening in the
first place. To boost funding for water regulation, the EA
is consulting on a new
levy on the water sector to recover the cost of
enforcement activities.
It comes as last week, Defra confirmed an £189m uplift for the
EA's water regulation, coming from charges paid by the sector
rather than the public purse. This represents a 64% increase in
funding since 2023/2024.
So far, the EA is on track to deliver 10,000 inspections of water
company assets next year and we will continue to work closely
with government and fellow regulators to hold companies to
account so they deliver the environmental improvements for
communities and wildlife.
The Act also requires companies to produce annual Pollution
Incident Reduction Plans to address the root cause of persistent
problems and prevent pollution incidents.
