Water companies face wave of criminal investigations
A total of 81 investigations have been opened, after spot checks at company premises and rivers jumped 400 per cent in the past year.
Breaches of environmental permits, such as releasing excessive pollution into rivers or failing to carry out water quality monitoring, are criminal offences.
Thames Water faces the highest number of criminal investigations, 31, while Anglian Water has 22, according to government figures.
Under new laws, water company executives could face as long as two years in prison for obstructing an investigation.
If found guilty, they could be jailed for up to five years and their firms fined hundreds of millions of pounds.
Sir Adrian Montague, the chairman of Thames Water, appeared in front of MPs earlier this month to defend handing out six-figure bonuses.
He argued that the firm needed to 'reward its staff effectively' to ensure they would not be poached by rival businesses.
But Downing Street today appeared to hit back at his remarks, as the Prime Minister's spokesman said: 'Water bosses rewarding themselves for failure is clearly not acceptable.'
'The new Ofwat powers that are set out in the Water Act and will be coming into effect shortly will be applied retrospectively, meaning that they apply to Thames Water, just as they will any other company.'
Steve Reed, the Environment Secretary, said that water bosses who were breaking the law would 'finally be punished'.
He added: 'Water companies have too often gone unpunished as they pump record levels of sewage into our waterways. No more.
'A record number of criminal investigations have been launched into law-breaking water companies – which could see bosses behind bars.
'With this Government, water companies who break the law will finally be punished for their disgraceful behaviour so we can clean up our rivers, lakes and seas for good.'
Mr Reed also confirmed that Thames Water had 'withdrawn' plans to pay senior bosses large bonuses, something the water company had said was necessary to secure a £3 billion emergency loan.
Thames Water's chairman earlier admitted incorrectly stating that the so-called retention plan was 'insisted upon' by the company's lenders.
Philip Duffy, chief executive of the Environment Agency, said: 'Our message to the industry is clear: we expect full compliance throughout the water system, and we will not hesitate to take robust enforcement action where we identify serious breaches.'
Government figures show the regulator carried out an average of nine investigations a month between July 2024 and March this year.
That compared with 187 criminal investigations launched in the period from April 2020 to June 2024, an average of 3.6 per month.
But critics said that the attempts at a crackdown had not gone far enough.
'National scandal'
Tim Farron, the Liberal Democrats' environment spokesman, said: 'Eighty-one investigations does not even begin to address the sewage scandal that has plagued British rivers and seas for far too long.
'This is a national scandal which got far worse under the Conservatives' watch. Their record is one of rising sewage levels and water firms stuffing their pockets with cash.
'And now, the Government's attempt to tackle the crisis is a job half done. A toothless regulator will fail to end the scandal of multi-million pound bonuses for sewage dumpers.'
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