Latest news with #DŵrCymru
Powys County Times
22-05-2025
- Business
- Powys County Times
Welsh Water fined £1.35 million for sewage including Powys
A Welsh water company has been fined £1.35 million after it admitted more than 800 breaches of environmental permits to discharge sewage across the country - including locations in Mid Wales. Dŵr Cymru Welsh Water must also pay £70,237.70 in court costs after it was brought before Wrexham Magistrates' Court on Thursday (May 15) for sentencing. Some of the locations include Llandrindod Wells in Powys, and coastal towns Tywyn, Pwllheli and Abersoch in nearby Gwynedd. The charges relate to the company's self-monitoring data submitted to Natural Resources Wales (NRW) as part of its 2020 and 2021 annual reports. Due to the volume of non-compliances, the charges were summarised into 18 offences for the court's benefit. Dŵr Cymru Welsh Water pleaded guilty to 15 out of the 18 charges at Llandudno Magistrates Court on October 16, last year, before accepting the remainder of the Taken into Consideration (TIC) charges, on December 17. Since 2010, there has been a requirement on water companies to carry out self-monitoring of their effluent discharges from their sewage works and water treatment works. Following the sentencing hearing, a spokesperson for NRW explained that they were alarmed to find that the quality of the information provided in the water company's 2020 annual report had noticeably deteriorated compared to previous years, with over 600 breaches recorded across some 300 sites in Wales and Herefordshire. In interviews, and in their defence in court, Dŵr Cymru Welsh Water explained that an internal restructure of the sampling team and IT-related scheduling issues coupled with the effects of the Covid-19 pandemic were the main factors in the deterioration. Help support trusted local news Sign up for a digital subscription now: As a digital subscriber you will get Unlimited access to the County Times website Advert-light access Reader rewards Full access to our app While the situation had significantly improved by the submission of the 2021 annual report, a number of non-compliances were again identified, albeit these were less in number. NRW added that missing samples and data from the 2020 reporting year meant that NRW was unable to fully assess or respond to any environmental impacts. Siân Williams, Head of Operations from Natural Resources Wales said: 'This case highlights inadequacies in the processes at Dŵr Cymru which led to widespread permit breaches across Wales and over the border during a period of two years. 'While we appreciate the disruption all businesses faced during 2020 with the Covid-19 pandemic, we believe the failings shown by Dŵr Cymru were avoidable should better contingency planning have been in place. 'Dŵr Cymru's performance has continued to decline for a number of years now, and this is a stark warning to the company that we will not hesitate to use our enforcement powers to secure the improvements we expect to see.' NRW has downgraded Dŵr Cymru Welsh Water from a four-star (industry leading) company in 2020 to two-star (requires improvement) company in 2022 and 2023 as part of its annual Environmental Performance Assessment.
BBC News
22-05-2025
- Climate
- BBC News
Water warning as prolonged dry weather hits supply
Drought experts have issued stronger advice on water use in response to record low river Resources Wales said all of Wales is being upgraded from "normal" to "prolonged dry weather" was the driest since 1944, and warm dry conditions returned in May meaning Wales saw 59% of the expected rain for that time of the equates to one of the driest three month equivalent periods on record. NRW's decision was shared with the Wales Drought Liaison Group on group is chaired by the Welsh government and made up of senior decision-makers from NRW, the Met Office, water companies, Public Health Wales, farming unions and local authority is reporting the majority of river flows are currently low or exceptionally low, with dry riverbeds and algal rivers in north and mid Wales are currently classed as having notably low levels, while the Dee and Yscir are at their driest since records began in the 1970s.Dŵr Cymru Welsh Water and Hafren Dyfrdwy are reporting some water levels in reservoirs are below where they would usually be at this time of said it fully supports water companies' advice to use water wisely."Such a dry start to the year is causing considerable concern for the health of our ecosystems and habitats, as well as for land management and the agricultural sector," said NRW's Sustainable Water and Nature Manager Rhian Thomas."As such, we have taken the decision to move the whole of Wales into prolonged dry weather status."She said it meant the agency would step up monitoring across Wales and that the Wales Drought Liaison Group would meet regularly to review the status."To ensure water can continue to be supplied without damaging the environment, the public and businesses across Wales are being urged to use water wisely and manage this precious resource," she added.
ITV News
15-05-2025
- Business
- ITV News
Welsh Water fined £1.35m for more than 800 sewage breaches
Dŵr Cymru Welsh Water has been fined £1.35m after it plead guilty to more than 800 breaches of its environmental permits to discharge sewage. These were across 300 sites across Wales and Herefordshire. The charges relate to the self monitoring data from the water company which it submitted to Natural Resources Wales (NRW) as part of its 2020 and 2021 annual reports. Since 2010 there has been a requirement on water companies to carry out self-monitoring of their effluent discharges from their sewage works and water treatment works. Dŵr Cymru says an internal restructure of the sampling team and IT-related scheduling issues along with the effects of the Covid-19 pandemic were the main factors in the deterioration. Due to the amount of non-compliances recorded, the charges were summarised into 18 offences by Dŵr Cymru. On the 16th October 2024 at Llandudno Magistrates Court, Dŵr Cymru plead guilty to 15 out of the 18 charges. By the 17th December 2024 the company accepted the remainder of the Taken into Consideration (TIC) charges. Upon receiving its 2020 annual report, officers for NRW say they were alarmed to find that the quality of the information provided 'had noticeably deteriorated compared to previous years', with over 600 breaches recorded. However, even though the situation has said to have significantly improved by the submission of the 2021 annual report, a number of non-compliances were identified. Due to the missing samples and data from the 2020 reporting year, it meant NRW was unable to fully assess or respond to any environmental impacts. In response a Welsh Water spokesperson said:'Dŵr Cymru Welsh Water has a strong record of compliance with our monitoring obligations prior to and after the period relevant to this matter. 'A combination of factors impacted our work during 2020-21 that included the COVID 19 pandemic. Despite this we met our monitoring requirements, which involve more than 18,000 tests per year, 98.95% of the time in 2020 and 99.45% in 2021. 'No sites were left unmonitored during this time, but the unique circumstances during 2020/21 caused significant challenges and disruption to our operations. 'There has been no identified environmental harm associated with this case and the monitoring failures represent a very small number of examples in a programme involving tens of thousands of submissions each year. Nonetheless, we recognise that our compliance fell short during 2020/21 and we entered a guilty plea at the earliest opportunity. 'Welsh Water will continue to work closely with our regulators to ensure that we deliver on our two main priorities, the best possible service to our customers and protecting the environment.' Siân Williams, Head of Operations from Natural Resources Wales said: 'This case highlights inadequacies in the processes at Dŵr Cymru which led to widespread permit breaches across Wales and over the border during a period of two years. 'While we appreciate the disruption all businesses faced during 2020 with the Covid-19 pandemic, we believe the failings shown by Dŵr Cymru were avoidable should better contingency planning have been in place. 'Dŵr Cymru's performance has continued to decline for a number of years now, and this is a stark warning to the company that we will not hesitate to use our enforcement powers to secure the improvements we expect to see.' NRW has downgraded Dŵr Cymru Welsh Water from a four-star (industry leading) company in 2020 to two-star (requires improvement) company in 2022 and 2023 as part of its annual Environmental Performance Assessment. In 2023, Dŵr Cymru recorded it's worst performance against environmental performance metrics, with a spike in significant pollution incidents and a decrease in incident self-reporting. Ms Williams added: 'The court's decision is the culmination of this complex investigation into the company's performance across Wales and Herefordshire. I'd like to pay tribute to the diligence and commitment of our regulatory teams in securing permit compliance and enforcing the systemic changes needed within the company. 'We will not hesitate to use our regulatory and enforcement powers where it is the appropriate thing to do to bring any permit holder into compliance. 'In line with our ongoing focus on water quality in Wales, we are investing more resources in frontline compliance monitoring and have increased our auditing of Dŵr Cymru's self-monitoring activities.'
North Wales Live
15-05-2025
- Business
- North Wales Live
Welsh Water fined £1.35m for more than 800 sewage discharge permit breaches
Dŵr Cymru Welsh Water has been fined £1.35m and ordered to pay £70,237.70 costs after pleading guilty to over 800 breaches of its environmental permits to discharge sewage. The charges relate to Dŵr Cymru Welsh Water's self-monitoring data submitted to Natural Resources Wales (NRW) as part of its 2020 and 2021 annual reports. Due to the volume of non-compliances, the charges were summarised into 18 offences for the court's benefit, a Natural Resources Wales statement said. It added: "On the 16th October 2024 at Llandudno Magistrates Court, Dŵr Cymru Welsh Water pleaded guilty to 15 out of the 18 charges. On the 17th December 2024 the company accepted the remainder of the Taken into Consideration (TIC) charges. "Since 2010 there has been a requirement on water companies to carry out self-monitoring of their effluent discharges from their sewage works and water treatment works. "Upon receiving its 2020 annual report, NRW officers were alarmed to find that the quality of the information provided had noticeably deteriorated compared to previous years, with over 600 breaches recorded. These were spread across some three hundred sites across Wales and Herefordshire. "In interviews, and in their defence in court, Dŵr Cymru Welsh Water explained that an internal restructure of the sampling team and IT-related scheduling issues coupled with the effects of the Covid-19 pandemic were the main factors in the deterioration. "While the situation had significantly improved by the submission of the 2021 annual report, a number of non-compliances were again identified, albeit these were less in number. "Contingency plans should have been in place to ensure the company met their legal duty to comply with their permits while going through the restructure. "Missing samples and data from the 2020 reporting year means that NRW was unable to fully assess or respond to any environmental impacts. While it's possible that individually, these non-compliances may have been minor, NRW considers the cumulative impact of all the breaches significant in terms of environmental impact." Siân Williams, Head of Operations from Natural Resources Wales added: "This case highlights inadequacies in the processes at Dŵr Cymru which led to widespread permit breaches across Wales and over the border during a period of two years. 'While we appreciate the disruption all businesses faced during 2020 with the Covid-19 pandemic, we believe the failings shown by Dŵr Cymru were avoidable should better contingency planning have been in place. 'Dŵr Cymru's performance has continued to decline for a number of years now, and this is a stark warning to the company that we will not hesitate to use our enforcement powers to secure the improvements we expect to see.' NRW has downgraded Dŵr Cymru Welsh Water from a four-star (industry leading) company in 2020 to two-star (requires improvement) company in 2022 and 2023 as part of its annual Environmental Performance Assessment. During 2023, Dŵr Cymru recorded its worst performance against the environmental performance metrics measured, with a spike in significant pollution incidents and a decrease in incident self-reporting, NRW said. The descriptive permit non-compliances dealt with by this prosecution are not included as part of the Environmental Performance Assessment matrix, it added. Ms Williams said: 'The court's decision is the culmination of this complex investigation into the company's performance across Wales and Herefordshire. I'd like to pay tribute to the diligence and commitment of our regulatory teams in securing permit compliance and enforcing the systemic changes needed within the company. 'We will not hesitate to use our regulatory and enforcement powers where it is the appropriate thing to do to bring any permit holder into compliance. 'In line with our ongoing focus on water quality in Wales, we are investing more resources in frontline compliance monitoring and have increased our auditing of Dŵr Cymru's self-monitoring activities.' Dŵr Cymru Welsh Water has been asked for a comment.
South Wales Argus
09-05-2025
- Health
- South Wales Argus
Water Safety Wales launch resources to tackle drowning
Drowning is the second leading cause of accidental death among children in Wales, with 20 young people having drowned between 2021 and 2023. The resources, aimed at children aged 3 to 11, include presentations, videos, and interactive materials, all of which are accessible for free via the Hwb platform. The resources are designed to be integrated into the Curriculum for Wales. Sarah Wathan, headteacher of St Philip Evans RC Primary School, said: "We are excited to be the first school to implement these resources. "Our students' safety is our top priority, and these materials will play a vital role in their education." The resources emphasise the Water Safety Code, which includes four lifesaving tips: stop and think, stay together, float, and call 999. Sophie Dearborn Bloom from Dŵr Cymru said: "Delivering these sessions has been a really rewarding experience. "It was fantastic to see the children so engaged and really connecting with the water safety messages – a clear sign of the initiative's impact." WSW encourages all schools to adopt these resources to ensure children receive essential water safety education.
