Serious water pollution incidents up 60% last year, watchdog reveals
The number of most serious water pollution incidents rose by 60% last year, according to data covering England, with three companies responsible for the bulk of them.
The Environment Agency (EA) - under fire for its own oversight of water firms' pollution performance - said that more than 80% of the 75 instances were the responsibility of Thames Water (33), Southern Water (15) and Yorkshire Water (13).
The body said it found "consistently poor performance" across all nine water and wastewater firms in the country.
According to the report, reasons behind the 2024 results include persistent underinvestment in new infrastructure, poor asset maintenance, and reduced resilience due to the impacts of climate change.
The data was released as a committee of MPs called for regulation of water companies to face a "complete overhaul" amid a lack of public trust and anger over surging bills to pay for long overdue infrastructure improvements.
The Public Accounts Committee said that Ofwat and the EA had failed to secure industry compliance and warned that even the high bill settlements to 2030 would only result in 44% of sewage overflows being overhauled.
The Independent Water Commission, established by the government last year and led by former Bank of England deputy governor Sir Jon Cunliffe, is due to make final recommendations on the regulatory framework next week.
He warned when the interim report was published last month: "There is no simple, single change, no matter how radical, that will deliver the fundamental reset that is needed for the water sector."
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