Utility Week

6 | 20TH - 26TH JULY 2018 | UTILITY WEEK News Inside story B eing taken to task is proving to be a common theme for water companies in 2018. If being lambasted by the eco- nomic regulator and both sides of the House of Commons wasn't enough, the environ- mental regulator has now waded into the mix for good measure. England's water industry is "not doing enough" to prevent the most serious pollu- tion incidents and comply with permits, the Environment Agency (EA) warns in its latest report published on 11 July, which assesses the environmental performance of the nine water and sewerage companies in the country. The report comes aer record fines for the sector, with more than £21 mil- lion issued in 2017 on the back of 16 successful prosecutions by the EA, driven by changes in sentencing guidelines. Thames Water forked out most of the total as it was ordered to pay fines of almost £20 million in March 2017 following a series of "significant pollution incidents" between 2012 and 2014. With criticism being hurled at the water sector from le (Labour's call for renationali- sation), right (Michael Gove's signal to crack down on "concerning behaviour") and centre (Ofwat's reform agenda), water companies have had little time to lick their wounds and come back fighting. If they were hoping for a less fraught second half to the year, they are already out of luck. Not doing enough Emma Howard Boyd, chair of the EA, is quick to warn that the sector is not doing enough to reduce serious pollution incidents and ensure compliance with discharge permits. "Pollution incidents cause distress to local communities, blight our rivers and beaches, and damage the reputation of the water industry. We will take tough action against any company, or individual, who causes significant pollution and damage to the environment," she says. On a more positive note, she does however acknowledge "there's much to celebrate this year", with the majority of companies deliv- ering "good" or "leading" performance. "In February, I called for fines for the most serious pollution incidents to be proportion- ate to the turnover of water companies. "In March, the secretary of state said the public see 'an industry slow to stop leaks, slow to repair them, slow to stop pollution and slow to say sorry'. "In April, Ofwat set out an agenda for rebuilding public trust in the sector and the National Infrastructure Commission said if they don't improve infrastructure and water efficiency there won't be enough water to meet demand in the future. "All of this could lead you to believe that England's water is in dire straits, but water quality is better than at any time in over a century, thanks, in part, to the hard work and investment of water companies," she says. Call for improvement South West Water and Northumbrian Water found themselves bottom of the class in this year's Water and Sewerage Companies' Environmental Performance Report. The EA highlighted the "urgent need" for both companies to improve their performance. Meanwhile, for the third year running, Wessex Water and United Utilities were the top-performing water companies. They have been joined by Severn Trent and all three received the highest four-star rating, having achieved "green" status in six of the seven metrics. Richard Hargrave, head of compliance at Wessex Water, says: "No other company has been such a consistent performer since the introduction of the EPA [Environmental Performance Assessment]. "This achievement has resulted from a lot of hard work across the business, not just the sewerage and sewage treatment operational staff but other parts of the company such as the compliance team, engineering and construction and water resources." Liv Garfield, chief executive of Severn Trent, adds: "We know that our customers want us to be great custodians of the environ- ment, which is why we put such emphasis on our performance in that area. "But the fact remains that we can always do better – we constantly strive to be best in class and I'll be challenging everyone to continually improve our perfor- mance in the years to come." Worst performing South West Water was rated the worst performer for pollution incidents in 2017. "The continu- ing poor performance of South West Water is not acceptable," says Howard Boyd. The company was placed in the red category for pollution incidents (Cat- egories 1-3) and serious pollution incidents (Categories 1 and 2), with 109 sewerage inci- dents per 10,000km for the former and 1.9 reported for the latter. Its performance was significantly below target for the two metrics. In the remaining five metrics, it received amber ratings for dis- charge permit compliance and self-reporting of pollution incidents. However, it did score 100 per cent and a firm place in the green performance cat- egory for satisfactory sludge disposal, AMP national environment programme delivery and security of supply index. The pollution problem meant the compa- ny's overall performance rating was only two stars. Data from the EA shows South West Water was in the red category for both "pol- lution incidents" and "serious pollution" incidents in 2012, 2013, 2015 and 2016. In 2014 it was rated red for pollution incidents and amber for serious pollution incidents. EA: still too much pollution 'Must try harder' has become a common refrain when it comes to water companies – and the end of year report for 2017 from the Environment Agency delivers the same verdict, says Katey Pidgen. "We will take tough action against any company, or individual, who causes significant pollution and damage to the environment" EMMA HOWARD BOYD, CHAIR, ENVIRONMENT AGENCY

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