Will New Government Move Solve Sewage Dumping Problem?

Many factors can prompt a business to switch water supplier. Price is an obvious factor, as is the reliability of supply. But the issue of pollution is a particular concern.

It may be that your current supplier is providing plenty of clean water for you, but they have a poor record when it comes to looking after the local environment. That raises several issues that could give you real reasons for concern:

•       Pollution may affect the rivers and streams in the area where you and your staff live and work
•       This pollution will eventually find its way into the sea and may affect the beaches you like to visit
•       If they are so neglectful or maintenance that they do not prevent pollution incidents, you cannot be sure they will look after the infrastructure your supplies rely on

These issues may be weighing on your mind even now if your supplier has been found to have failed in its responsibilities.

Some might argue that the response should not be left to business customers who can vote with their feet (or their wallets), not least as households do not have that option. But what has the government and Ofwat done?

At the last general election, the issue of sewage pollution failures by water companies featured prominently in most of the party manifestos, which proposed various measures to tighten up the rules and penalise firms that breached them.

What Is The Latest Anti-Pollution Measure?

The Labour Party had a range of proposals and, having won the election, it has gradually implemented them.

Among these was giving regulator Ofwat the power to stop bonuses for the executives of companies that failed to curb pollution and meet their targets, which it used to block £4 million of bonuses in the first year of operation.

Now, the government has published details of a new duty for water companies to publish annual pollution reduction plans. This is a provision of the Water (Special Measures) Act.

Until now, pollution incident reduction plans were optional and only some water companies produced them, creating a lack of transparency.

Now, they will be mandatory and the companies will be legally compelled to produce them by April, or they (and their chief executives) will face criminal charges.

What Must The Pollution Reduction Plans Include?

Guidance given to the water companies in January set out what they needed to include in these plans:

•       Specific actions, such as improved monitoring, blockage clearance and consumer awareness campaigns
•       The identification of the root cause of incidents
•       The establishment of long-term solutions to problems
•       From 2027, the companies will have to publish implementation reports to outline their progress

Commenting on the plans, water minister Emma Hardy said the government is establishing a “new era of accountability” for the water industry.

“We’ve banned unfair bonuses for water bosses, introduced tough penalties for pollution and these mandatory plans are the latest step to hold water companies to account and tackle the root causes of pollution,” she added.

Have The Water Companies Been Getting Worse For Pollution?

The need for such measures was highlighted by Environment Agency (EA) data on water company pollution performance, which showed that in 2024, there were 2,801 reported incidents, including 75 classed as serious.

Overall, the EA rated the performance of the companies at 19 out of 36 in 2024, the worst since 2011.

Business customers like yours might be pleased to see the new requirements coming into effect, especially if your area is one that has been affected by a lot of incidents. But the very fact that recent performances have been so bad suggests water providers have a lot to do.

Whether they can meet that challenge remains to be seen. While the measures put in place by the government will put the squeeze on some of them, this is no guarantee that they will all manage to deliver the desired improvements.

For that reason, it is important to remain aware of your right to switch water supplier and also of our easy switching service, which makes this a straightforward thing to do, avoiding the kind of red tape and time consumption that might otherwise deter you from such a move.

The fact that the introduction of powers for Ofwat to block bonuses to bosses of failing firms saw £4 million of payments stopped in a year may be welcomed as a just penalty, but it also suggests it was not a sufficient deterrent to prevent ongoing failings.

For that reason, you may yet have good reason to switch from a supplier that continues to fail in its duties.