{"id":660899,"date":"2026-10-29T18:58:11","date_gmt":"2026-10-29T18:58:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/660899\/"},"modified":"2026-10-29T18:58:11","modified_gmt":"2026-10-29T18:58:11","slug":"eight-of-englands-nine-water-companies-still-failing-on-environment-report-finds-water-industry","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/660899\/","title":{"rendered":"Eight of England\u2019s nine water companies still failing on environment, report finds | Water industry"},"content":{"rendered":"

Angela Eagle, the environment secretary, has summoned water industry bosses to Whitehall after a report found that the environmental performance of the big companies has worsened despite investment.<\/p>\n

\u201cPeople are sick of excuses,\u201d Dame Angela said, after the Environment Agency<\/a> joined the Drinking Water Inspectorate, Natural Resources Wales and Ofwat for a joint report that rated eight of the nine water companies in England as \u201cpoor\u201d or \u201crequiring improvement\u201d.<\/p>\n

There were 74 serious pollution incidents, the category that causes significant harm to the environment, the report said. That was just one fewer than the previous year, despite billions of pounds of investment, bans on bosses\u2019 bonuses and a public outcry. The watchdog\u2019s environmental performance assessment ratings of water companies added up to 16 \u201cstars\u201d out of a possible 36, a fall from 19 the previous year, and the lowest score since the process began.<\/p>\n

Angela Eagle, the environment secretary, said the public were sick of excuses from the water industry. Photograph: Zeynep Demir Aslim\/Zuma Press Wire\/Shutterstock<\/p>\n

Changes could be imposed on the industry, Eagle warned: \u201cWater companies have let the public down time and time again, and today\u2019s report is further proof that root-and-branch reform cannot wait.\u201d<\/p>\n

The UK is one of only two countries in the world where the provision of water is fully privatised. The other is Chile, where water privatisation was imposed in the 1980s by a military dictatorship.<\/p>\n

Overall, there were 2,666 pollution incidents in England in 2025 \u2013 a 40% increase on 2016, the EA said. Thames Water had the most, followed by Anglian Water, United Utilities, Yorkshire Water and Southern Water.<\/p>\n

The Department for the Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra) said Eagle was preparing to take \u201cfurther action\u201d, with \u201ctougher consequences\u201d for executives at failing companies.<\/p>\n

Defra said it would \u201cset out a clear set of improvement actions\u201d, such as \u201ctackling leakage\u201d, \u201creductions in pollution incidents\u201d and \u201cimproving customer satisfaction\u201d. Rules that took effect last year would block bonuses for executives at companies receiving a one-star rating.<\/p>\n

Environmental campaigners called for stronger action. \u201cThis is a system that rewards shareholders and creditors while our rivers, wildlife and bill payers lose out,\u201d said James Wallace, the chief executive of River Action.<\/p>\n

Thames Water<\/a>, the worst offender, ought to go into special administration immediately, he said. \u201cMinisters must end the failed privatisation experiment, review alternative models including public ownership, and give regulators the power to make polluters pay not the public.\u201d<\/p>\n

The four agencies have pooled their data in a joint report for the first time \u2013 a step towards combining currently fragmented regulatory responsibilities under a single watchdog. But Richard Benwell, the chief executive of Wildlife and Countryside Link, said a new regulator \u201cmust be more than a merger of existing institutions\u201d.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt needs a clear legal duty to restore nature, strong environmental targets and the powers and resources to enforce the law across the water industry, industrial agriculture, and chemical companies,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Water UK, the industry trade body, said: \u201cToday\u2019s report shows the lowest level of leakage in history, as well as other areas of good performance. However, the fact remains that the environmental performance of some water companies is not good enough.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhile more than half of all pollution incidents last year were caused by blockages or vandalism, which are not in the direct control of the water companies, there is clearly more work to do.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt will take time, but record investment will help secure water supplies, support growth and end sewage entering rivers and seas.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Angela Eagle, the environment secretary, has summoned water industry bosses to Whitehall after a report found that the…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":660900,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[114,85,46],"class_list":["post-660899","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-business","tag-business","tag-il","tag-israel"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/660899","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=660899"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/660899\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/660900"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=660899"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=660899"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=660899"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}