Yorkshire Water fine should be just the start - The Yorkshire Post says

And just days after it was announced that Yorkshire Water could be forced to pay £47m in fines over waste discharges, it is today reported that the company’s permit breaches have more than doubled in the last two years.

This week campaigners have welcomed the multimillion-pound fines planned for three water companies.

Ofwat also proposed a £104m fine for Thames Water plus sanctions of £17m for Northumbrian Water, in the first results of a landmark probe into all 11 of England and Wales’ water firms. But they warned the penalties highlight the “sheer state of disrepair” of the industry. Meanwhile, Ofwat chief executive David Black called the three firms’ records of polluting rivers and waterways “a catalogue of failure”.

Today’s Freedom of Information figures, which the Liberal Democrats have shared with The Yorkshire Post, provide back-up to these sentiments.

The findings show that in England, since 2021, there have been 665 breaches related to unauthorised sewage discharges – ie when they are not linked to rainfall or melting snow.

Big fines are to be welcomed but should only be the start, for there is clearly a very deep issue here and the way these companies are being run is untenable. The Liberal Democrats are calling for a ban on executive bonuses, and for water firms to become public benefit companies, which have got to reinvest profits into critical infrastructure. They will not be alone in doing so.