UK water companies fail to get basics right, environmental regulator says
Five out of nine rated as 'requiring improvement'
47 serious pollution incidents in 2023, up by three
Tougher regulation on the way
Adds Water UK comments in paragraphs 6, 7, 12
By Sarah Young
LONDON, July 23 (Reuters) -Britain's Environment Agency on Tuesday lambasted the country's water companies for spewing sewage into rivers and seas, saying the majority of them were failing to get the basics right, as it outlined plans for a tougher regulatory approach.
Years of under-investment by privately run, profit-seeking water companies in the UK have coincided with heavier rainfall from climate change and a growing population to bring the country's water industry close to crisis.
Regulator the Environment Agency said in its annual report on Tuesday that five out of nine companies were rated as "requiring improvement", and that the pace of progress towards making water cleaner was too slow.
One of those five failing companies was Thames Water, the country's biggest water supplier, which for the last year has dominated headlines for its poor environmental record and a funding crisis that means it could be nationalised.
The Environment Agency said that in 2023 there were 47 serious pollution incidents, up from 44 the previous year, and that 90% of those incidents were caused by four companies - Thames, Anglian Water, Southern Water and Yorkshire Water.
Water UK, which represents the companies, agreed that improvements were needed, and called on the industry's other regulator, Ofwat, to back the companies' spending plans for the next five years.
"Water companies have proposed investing a record 105 billion pounds ($135.59 billion) to secure our water supply in the future and stop sewage entering our rivers and seas. Ofwat needs to approve these plans in full as any less will put critical improvements at risk," a Water UK spokesperson said.
Britain's Environment, Food and Rural Affairs Minister Steve Reed called the findings "shocking".
"For too long, water companies have pumped record levels of sewage into our rivers, lakes and seas. This government will never let this happen again," he said in a statement.
The new Labour government, elected three weeks ago, has already outlined steps to introduce new fines for water companies, increase monitoring for spills and ensure money is spent on infrastructure upgrades and not executive bonuses.
For its part, the Environment Agency said it would recruit 500 additional staff and quadruple the number of water company inspections by March next year.
Water UK said that since 2011 the Environment Agency had repeatedly tightened targets.
Severn Trent SVT.L, United Utilities UU.L and Wessex Water were all given the top rating for environmental performance by the Environment Agency. It says all companies should be able to achieve that.
Severn Trent said on Tuesday it was confident it could halve its spill rate by 2030.
But doing so requires investment. Thames Water, Britain's biggest water supplier, is trying to raise new equity before it runs out of cash by next May.
($1 = 0.7744 pounds)
Reporting by Sarah Young; Editing by Jan Harvey
Aset Terkait
Berita Terbaru
Pengungkapan: Entitas XM Group menyediakan layanan khusus eksekusi dan akses ke Fasilitas Trading Online kami, yang memungkinkan Anda untuk melihat dan/atau menggunakan konten yang tersedia pada atau melalui situs, yang tidak untuk mengubah atau memperluas, serta tidak mengubah atau memperluas hal tersebut. Akses dan penggunaan ini selalu sesuai dengan: (i) Syarat dan Ketentuan; (ii) Peringatan Risiko; dan (iii) Pengungkapan Penuh. Oleh karena itu, konten disediakan hanya sebagai informasi umum. Anda juga harus ketahui bahwa konten Fasilitas Trading Online kami bukan sebagai ajakan atau tawaran untuk untuk melakukan transaksi apa pun di pasar finansial. Trading di pasar finansial mana pun melibatkan tingkat risiko yang signifikan pada modal Anda.
Semua materi yang diterbitkan di Fasilitas Trading Online kami hanya untuk tujuan edukasi/informasi dan tidak boleh mengandung nasihat dan rekomendasi finansial, pajak investasi atau trading, catatan harga trading kami, penawaran, permintaan, transaksi dalam instrumen finansial apa pun atau promo finansial untuk Anda yang tidak diminta.
Konten pihak ketiga apa pun, serta konten yang disiapkan oleh XM, seperti opini, berita, riset, analisis, harga, informasi lain atau link ke situs pihak ketiga yang tersedia "sebagaimana adanya", sebagai komentar pasar umum dan bukan menjadi nasihat investasi. Sejauh konten apa pun ditafsirkan sebagai penelitian investasi, Anda harus memperhatikan dan menerima bahwa konten tersebut tidak dimaksudkan dan belum disiapkan sesuai dengan persyaratan hukum yang dirancang untuk mempromosikan kemandirian riset investasi dan dengan demikian akan dianggap sebagai komunikasi pemasaran di bawah hukum dan peraturan yang relevan. Mohon dipastikan bahwa Anda telah membaca dan memahami Notifikasi pada Riset Investasi Non-Independen dan Peringatan Risiko kami mengenai informasi di atas, yang dapat diakses disini.
