The locations of the six most serious incidents have been made public
Summerleaze in Newport, the location of one of the pollution incidents reported by Natural Resources Wales(Image: Google)
These are the locations of the pollution incidents for which Dŵr Cymru was responsible in 2024. Natural Resources Wales data shows Dŵr Cymru Welsh Water was responsible for 155 pollution incidents during 2024 – including the highest number of sewage pollution incidents in ten years.
Of the total number of incidents, 132 in Wales were from sewerage assets and 23 related to water supply incidents. Six of those were classed as “serious” and five of those stemmed from sewerage. Natural Resources Wales has provided WalesOnline with data of the locations of incidents.
The six most serious incidents were in:
Summerleaze in Newport (rising main)The Green in Pembrokeshire (rising main)Bow Street in Ceredigion (pumping station)Trebanos, Neath Port Talbot (sewage treatment works)Lisvane, Cardiff (water distribution system)The Marsh, Pembrokeshire (pumping station)
Water distribution system incidents refer to incidents from the drinking water supply, the rest relate to sewage.
All the 145 incidents in Wales are mapped below:
When the figures were released, Nadia De Longhi, from regulator Natural Resources Wales said the company had failed to listen to repeated warnings.
“We’ve seen a huge deterioration in the performance of Dŵr Cymru Welsh Water since 2020, and despite repeated warnings and interventions they’ve been unable to reverse this concerning trend.
“This has left us with no choice but to pursue a number of prosecutions against the company which have recently concluded. This is not the outcome we want, nor the best outcome for the environment – our priority will always be to bring companies into compliance and prevent environmental damage from happening in the first place.
“We continue to do everything we can to drive improvements, but Dŵr Cymru Welsh Water must address the root cause of these pollution incidents and take preventative measures before more harm is done to the water environment.
“We will be increasing our capacity for monitoring and auditing discharges, clamping down on unpermitted storm overflows and introducing tighter criteria for annual performance reporting. This will ensure we are receiving the best quality data about the impact of water company operations on the environment and can respond appropriately.”
A Dŵr Cymru Welsh Water spokesperson said the company “acknowledged the concerns” and admitted its “performance is not where it needs to be”.
“The industry across the UK has seen increases in pollution incidents. We are rightly being held to a higher standard and have improved our processes to meet this challenge, with better monitoring leading to detecting more short-lived event and better reporting.
“We are accelerating investment in key areas to reduce pollution incidents with a £4bn investment programme that includes £2.5bn on environmental projects.
“While we have made progress, such as increasing the number of incidents we find and self-reporting, we know more needs to be done.
“We remain committed to working constructively with NRW to deliver improvements and will be engaging closely on their new requirements and guidance, including the development of pollution incident reduction plans and further use of smart technology to spot problems in the sewer network before they can cause a pollution.”