Long road ahead for Yorkshire Water but latest environmental performance shows the need for it to deliver improvements fast
The environmental performance of the water sector is wholly unacceptable. Regulators said eight of the nine water companies in England were either rated as “poor” or “requiring improvement” in 2025. The industry has hit a new nadir despite reforms and investment.
Yorkshire Water being given the lowest possible environmental rating by the Environment Agency (EA), after a sharp rise in pollution incidents, will leave many people in the region dismayed.
It is clear from these ratings that the water sector at large has taken a wrong turn. Unfortunately, there are no quick fixes to the environmental issues that are blighting Britain’s waterways. Water firms are culpable for the damage that has been done to the environment.
To its credit Yorkshire Water has held its hands up and has shown a willingness to engage with criticism aimed at the company in recent months.
However, simply issuing a mea culpa and promising an upturn in performance in the future is not going to be enough. And so long as it continues to register this sort of performance then the public will remain sceptical about its ability to turn things around. Yorkshire Water needs to deliver improvements fast. Naturally, customers feel aggrieved by the fact that their neighbourhoods are left counting the cost of pollution while water executives and shareholders have been handsomely renumerated. The Environment Secretary has summoned water bosses to Whitehall to explain their failures. While the Government has offered a lot of rhetoric on water reform, campaigners feel that not enough is being done.