‘Too late in the day’: Proposed £146m Ofwat fines for water companies not quick enough - founder of River Action

Charles Watson, chairman of the campaign group River Action, has said recently proposed fines from Ofwat against Yorkshire Water, Thames Water and Northumbrian Water have come “too late in the day”.

Industry regulator Ofwat announced on August 6 that it was proposing fines totalling £168m against the companies, including a £47m proposed penalty for Yorkshire Water. This followed an investigation into how the company manages its sewage treatment works and sewer network.

Mr Watson, however, said he believed the proposal was overdue.

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He said: “Many rivers are Sites of Special Scientific Interest, and I think you can probably be sure that basically every one in the country is suffering from pollution. The announcement from Ofwat was way too late in the day.

Charles Watson, chairman of the campaign group River Action, has said recently proposed fines from Ofwat against Yorkshire Water, Thames Water and Northumbrian Water have come “too late in the day”.Charles Watson, chairman of the campaign group River Action, has said recently proposed fines from Ofwat against Yorkshire Water, Thames Water and Northumbrian Water have come “too late in the day”.
Charles Watson, chairman of the campaign group River Action, has said recently proposed fines from Ofwat against Yorkshire Water, Thames Water and Northumbrian Water have come “too late in the day”.

“It has taken them over 20 years to get to where they got to in that announcement. It completely underlines what a systematically failed institution Ofwat is.

“Everything that is going on with the pollution has been allowed to happen, that's what we have to understand. It has been permitted to happen by regulators. Ofwat has until now just totally failed to show any form of teeth or muscle in preventing all the money going to the wrong place.”

Mr Watson’s comments come after an investigation by The Yorkshire Post which found that Yorkshire Water had breached its Environment Agency permits 259 times over the past two years. The company said it was unable to “replicate” these numbers.

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Ofwat’s proposed fines came as part of what the regulator described as its “largest ever” investigation. Since opening its enforcement cases, the company has issued more than 30 formal evidence requests to the companies concerned, as well as gathering and analysing more than 3,000 pieces of evidence.

The regulator’s investigation found that 16 per cent of Yorkshire Water's sewage treatment works with flow to full treatment permits had capacity or operational problems, while 45 per cent of its storm overflows associated with its sewage treatment works were found to be in breach of the obligations that Ofwat enforces.

An Ofwat spokesperson said that the regulator “shared the public's anger over water companies' environmental performance”.

Yorkshire Water said it was “disappointed” with Ofwat’s response to the investigation, and that it had cooperated fully since the start of the process in November 2021.

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A spokesperson added: “We will continue to seek clarity on their draft penalty and enforcement notice. We will be responding to the notice by September 10. Any financial penalty will be paid by our shareholders, not customers.”

Mr Watson also called for the Environment Agency to be given more enforcement power.

He said: “It's all very well and good the Environment Agency saying ‘we counted X number breaches of permit’, but they haven't done anything about it. This is not their fault because they have been defunded over the past 20 years as part of general austerity, but they just don't have boots on the ground.

“They have got to be empowered and be a meaningful law enforcement agency that makes polluters quiver in their boots at the thought of them coming out.”

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An Environment Agency spokesperson said: “We are conducting our largest ever criminal investigation into potential widespread non-compliance by water and sewerage companies at thousands of sewage treatment works. Our tough enforcement action has already led to over £150m in fines since 2015. We are also improving how we regulate the sector – including expanding the number of officers focused solely on water company regulation and increasing compliance checks."

The agency intends to carry out 10,000 water company inspections a year in 2025/2026.

River Action, along with a number of other campaign groups, recently announced the March for Clean Water, a demonstration set to take place in central London on October 26 to call for urgent action from the new Government on addressing water pollution.

Mr Watson added that “all eyes” will now be on the new government to fulfil its pledges on holding water companies to account.

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He said: “We’ve got to have intervention by the government. These aren't one off instances, this is a systemic failure. Everywhere across the country we look, this industry has failed. The Labour Party won a large number of votes on the promise that they would clean this mess up, and now they have to do so.”

A Government spokesperson said: “We share the public’s anger on this issue and have taken immediate steps to reverse the tide on the unacceptable destruction of our waterways.

“Our Water Bill will include new powers to ban bonuses and bring criminal charges against law breakers. This is just the first step in our wider reform of the sector. This Government will never look the other way while water companies pump record levels of sewage into our rivers, lakes and seas.”

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