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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.
Pembrokeshire Herald
16-05-2025
- Business
- Pembrokeshire Herald
First outdoor pickleball courts open in Milford Haven
Welsh Water fined £1.35m for widespread sewage permit breaches DŴR CYMRU Welsh Water has been fined £1.35 million and ordered to pay more than £70,000 in costs after pleading guilty to more than 800 breaches of its environmental permits to discharge sewage. The breaches, spanning hundreds of sites across Wales and Herefordshire, were identified through the company's own self-monitoring data submitted to Natural Resources Wales (NRW) for the years 2020 and 2021. Due to the sheer volume of non-compliances, the breaches were consolidated into 18 charges for the purpose of court proceedings. The company admitted guilt to 15 of these offences at Llandudno Magistrates' Court on October 16, 2024, and accepted the remaining offences as Taken Into Consideration (TICs) in December. A protest is scheduled to take place at Broad Haven on Saturday (Pic: Herald) Since 2010, water companies have been required to carry out self-monitoring of effluent discharges from sewage and water treatment works. NRW said it became concerned when the 2020 report from Welsh Water showed a sharp decline in the quality of monitoring data, revealing over 600 breaches at around 300 sites. In court, Welsh Water blamed internal restructuring, IT scheduling failures, and the disruption caused by the COVID-19 pandemic for the deterioration in compliance. Although the situation improved in 2021, further non-compliances were recorded. NRW said contingency plans should have been in place to prevent such a large-scale failure, regardless of internal changes or external pressures. The regulator was unable to fully assess potential environmental harm due to missing data in 2020, but warned that the cumulative impact of hundreds of breaches could be significant. Siân Williams, Head of Operations at NRW, said: 'This case highlights serious inadequacies in Dŵr Cymru's systems, which led to widespread breaches of environmental permits. While we understand the challenges presented by the pandemic, the company's failings were avoidable had proper contingency planning been in place.' She added that Welsh Water's environmental performance has steadily declined in recent years. The company was downgraded from a four-star 'industry leading' rating in 2020 to two-star 'requires improvement' status in both 2022 and 2023. In 2023, the utility recorded its worst-ever performance, with a rise in major pollution incidents and a fall in the number of incidents it self-reported. The breaches prosecuted in this case are separate from those included in NRW's annual Environmental Performance Assessment (EPA) but are part of wider concerns over Welsh Water's compliance. Ms Williams said: 'The court's decision follows a complex investigation, and I'd like to thank our regulatory teams for their diligence. We are increasing our compliance monitoring efforts across Wales and will not hesitate to take enforcement action when necessary.' NRW says it has stepped up audits of Welsh Water's self-monitoring activities as part of a wider crackdown on poor water quality across Wales. 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.'
Pembrokeshire Herald
16-05-2025
- Business
- Pembrokeshire Herald
Welsh Water fined £1.35m for widespread sewage permit breaches
Welsh Water fined £1.35m for widespread sewage permit breaches DŴR CYMRU Welsh Water has been fined £1.35 million and ordered to pay more than £70,000 in costs after pleading guilty to more than 800 breaches of its environmental permits to discharge sewage. The breaches, spanning hundreds of sites across Wales and Herefordshire, were identified through the company's own self-monitoring data submitted to Natural Resources Wales (NRW) for the years 2020 and 2021. Due to the sheer volume of non-compliances, the breaches were consolidated into 18 charges for the purpose of court proceedings. The company admitted guilt to 15 of these offences at Llandudno Magistrates' Court on October 16, 2024, and accepted the remaining offences as Taken Into Consideration (TICs) in December. A protest is scheduled to take place at Broad Haven on Saturday (Pic: Herald) Since 2010, water companies have been required to carry out self-monitoring of effluent discharges from sewage and water treatment works. NRW said it became concerned when the 2020 report from Welsh Water showed a sharp decline in the quality of monitoring data, revealing over 600 breaches at around 300 sites. In court, Welsh Water blamed internal restructuring, IT scheduling failures, and the disruption caused by the COVID-19 pandemic for the deterioration in compliance. Although the situation improved in 2021, further non-compliances were recorded. NRW said contingency plans should have been in place to prevent such a large-scale failure, regardless of internal changes or external pressures. The regulator was unable to fully assess potential environmental harm due to missing data in 2020, but warned that the cumulative impact of hundreds of breaches could be significant. Siân Williams, Head of Operations at NRW, said: 'This case highlights serious inadequacies in Dŵr Cymru's systems, which led to widespread breaches of environmental permits. While we understand the challenges presented by the pandemic, the company's failings were avoidable had proper contingency planning been in place.' She added that Welsh Water's environmental performance has steadily declined in recent years. The company was downgraded from a four-star 'industry leading' rating in 2020 to two-star 'requires improvement' status in both 2022 and 2023. In 2023, the utility recorded its worst-ever performance, with a rise in major pollution incidents and a fall in the number of incidents it self-reported. The breaches prosecuted in this case are separate from those included in NRW's annual Environmental Performance Assessment (EPA) but are part of wider concerns over Welsh Water's compliance. Ms Williams said: 'The court's decision follows a complex investigation, and I'd like to thank our regulatory teams for their diligence. We are increasing our compliance monitoring efforts across Wales and will not hesitate to take enforcement action when necessary.' NRW says it has stepped up audits of Welsh Water's self-monitoring activities as part of a wider crackdown on poor water quality across Wales. 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.'
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.'
Wales Online
15-05-2025
- Business
- Wales Online
Welsh Water fined £1.35m for more than 800 sewage discharge permit breaches
Our community members are treated to special offers, promotions and adverts from us and our partners. You can check out at any time. More info 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. You can sign up for all the latest court stories here Find out what's happening near you
