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New environment secretary Ranil Jayawardena is looking to increase maximum civil penalties for water companies’ environmental pollution by 1,000-fold from £250,000 up to £250M.
Meanwhile, Ofwat has this week announced fines for 11 of the UK’s 17 water companies for missed targets on areas such as water supply interruptions, pollution interruptions and internal sewer flooding. The combined total to be paid by the companies is almost £150M and will be recouped through money being taken off customers’ bills in the next financial year. The worst offenders are Thames Water (£51M), Southern Water (£28.3M) and Northumbrian Water (£20.3M).
These actions come as pressure has been steadily increasing on the water companies to improve their environmental performances.
Heavy rainfall in late August and early September saw unprecedented levels of untreated sewage discharged into seas and rivers, prompting pollution warnings on more than 100 of the UK’s beaches. In his first week in office, Jayawardena told water companies they had two weeks to offer plans on how they would make “significant improvements” on their “completely unacceptable” sewage dumping practices.
These responses are currently being scrutinised, but in the short term he is attempting to make water companies invest in more infrastructure to minimise pollution through new penalty proposals. While he has not yet suggested that jail sentences will be forthcoming, the proposed increase in maximum penalty to £250M could be a significant weapon in the battle.
Currently, there is no limit on fines that can be handed out by courts through criminal prosecution, but these can be lengthy and costly processes. The environment secretary’s proposal will enable the Environment Agency to directly impose the boosted fines through civil sanctions, otherwise known as variable money penalties.
Ofwat and the Environment Agency are aiming to use this threat to drive up water companies’ performance and increase accountability. They are urging the companies to urgently look at opportunities to accelerate infrastructure delivery.
This proposal will be subject to consultation before being enacted.
Jayawardena said: “I have been clear that if water companies don’t do what is expected, there will be consequences. Bigger financial penalties will act as a greater deterrent and push water companies to do more, and faster, when it comes to investing in infrastructure and improving the quality of our water.
“This 1,000-fold increase sends a clear signal that we want clean rivers and coastlines, and that the duty falls to the water companies to deliver – the polluter must pay.”
Environment Agency chief executive Sir James Bevan said: “Since 2015 the Environment Agency’s criminal prosecutions against water companies have secured fines of over £138 million – with a record £90 million fine handed out to Southern Water for corporate environmental crime.
“However, criminal prosecutions can be lengthy and costly, so we welcome today’s proposals which will make it easier for us to hold water companies to account for environmental crimes.
“We will now work closely with government to put this plan into action.”
Regarding the fines handed out this week, Ofwat chief executive David Black said: “When it comes to delivering for their customers, too many water companies are falling short, and we are requiring them to return around £150M to their customers.
“We expect companies to improve their performance every year; where they fail to do so, we will hold them to account. The poorest performers, Southern Water and Thames Water, will have to return almost £80M to their customers. All water companies need to earn back the trust of customers and the public and we will continue to challenge the sector to improve.”
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In the 1970’s we were taught at university that the sea is the finest sewage works that exists on this planet. Has that changed? Pee and poo are natural and the main constituents of the nitrogen cycle. Sewers overflow when there is lots of rain water so the pee and poo are much diluted and soon turn into fertiliser and fish food. The problem must therefore be the other things that people put down drains; sanitary products, plastic, rubber and oil. The public can deal with the problem at no cost and immediately by stopping putting these things down the toilet. Wet wipe makers should be banned from stating “flushable” on the packets. A massive publicity campaign is apparently required. It would be money well spent. Every time someone whinges about sewage in the sea the water companies should respond with a louder whinge about things in the sewage that the public should be putting in their dustbins.