Six of the nine water and sewerage companies in England have seen their star rating reduced in the Environment Agency’s latest annual Environmental Performance Assessment (EPA) for 2021.
Although the overall number of spills reduced slightly when compared to the previous year, the number of serious pollution incidents rose to 62 – the highest tally since 2013 – with seven of the nine companies being responsible for an increase in serious incidents. The number of the most serious category 1 incidents climbed from 3 to 8.
The EPA compares performance between wastewater companies across core environmental regulatory requirements and targets set by the agency. Companies receive a red, amber or green status for each metric and an overall star rating out of four.
Northumbrian, Severn Trent and United Utilities all maintained their top star rating of four. However, Wessex and Yorkshire, which both achieved four stars in 2020, dropped to two stars alongside Anglian and Thames, which had previously been awarded three. Meanwhile, Southern and South West both dropped from two stars to one.
Environment Agency chair Emma Howard Boyd was scathing in her summary of the sector’s overall performance, describing it as the “worst we have seen in years”.
All well as urging courts to impose much higher fines for pollution incidents, the chair said repeat offenders can now expect to be subject to criminal prosecution and that the agency will seek prison sentences for the chief executives and board members of companies responsible for the most serious incidents.
The EPA reports companies’ performance on six key metrics: pollution incidents; serious pollution incidents; self-reporting; discharge permit compliance; Water Industry Environment Programme (WINEP) schemes delivered on time; and supply demand balance index (SDBI) score.
The number of serious pollution incidents rose to 62, compared to 44 in 2020 and 52 in 2019. Anglian, Southern, South West, Thames, Wessex and Yorkshire received a red status, with only Northumbrian and United Utilities meeting their targets.
There was a slight reduction in the total number of pollution incidents in 2021 (1,883) when compared to 2020 (1,919) and 2019 (2,204). However, the Environment Agency said it was nevertheless higher than in earlier years, indicating no long-term trend for improvement and leaving the sector with a long way to go meet its WISER performance target for 2020 to 2025 to reduce the number of incidents by 40% when compared to the figure for 2016 (1,902).
The proportion of incidents self-reported by companies was unchanged from the previous year at 77%. This compares to 80% in 2019 and 76% in 2018 and 2017. Only 56% of serious spills were self-reported in the year. Thames Water was the only company to receive a red status, whilst Southern, Northumbrian, Severn Trent and Wessex all beat their targets.
On WINEP schemes companies had to meet 100% of their deadlines to achieve green status. South West missed by nine projects (2%), Southern by two projects (1.6%) and Thames by one (0.5%).
Defra said of the scores: “This report shows that water companies are ignoring their legal responsibilities. Water company chiefs cannot continue to make huge profits whilst polluting our waters.
“We will not tolerate this behaviour and we will take robust action if we don’t see urgent improvements. We are the first government to set out our expectation that water companies must take steps to significantly reduce storm overflows and earlier this year we consulted on a comprehensive plan to tackle the adverse impact of discharges from storm overflows.”
Trade body Water UK’s chief executive Christine McGourty added that overall the industry must do better: “Tackling this is our single biggest priority and every company has a comprehensive plan in place to make that happen.
“Last year the majority of companies achieved the highest possible rating from the Environment Agency, on the back of the lowest number of serious pollution incidents ever. We need to see an urgent return to those kind of results, with every company matching the performance of the best.”
Company ratings
Anglian had the highest number of serious incidents in the year at 14 – up from 10 last year and nearly five times its threshold of 3 to receive green status. It got 100% on WINEP delivery and on its SDBI score, securing green ratings for both, but received amber ratings for total incidents (258), self-reporting (69%) and discharge permit compliance (98.2%).
An Anglian spokesperson said: “While we’ve performed well in some areas, we are not where we need to be in others. We’re extremely disappointed to have dropped to a two-star rating last year.
“This rating reflects a challenging year, especially given the extreme rainfall and widespread flooding we saw at the start of 2021. We learned a lot at the time, and while the impact was too significant for us to recover in 2021, we’ve significantly changed how we work since.
“Already in the first six months of this year we’ve seen a reduction in pollution incidents and an improvement in our operational performance.”
Northumbrian retained its top four-star rating for the second year, securing green status for five out of the six metrics. The only target it missed was for discharge permit compliance (98.3%) for which it received amber status.
Richard Waneford, Northumbrian’s director of wastewater, said: “2021 was a year filled with challenges, such as major storms, but our teams worked tirelessly in the face of such incidents. For example, when Storm Arwen saw us lose power to some 60 sites, many of them in remote locations, we worked around the clock to protect the environment, liaising closely with the Environment Agency.
“Our investment of £700 million in work to benefit the environment during our 2020 to 2025 period is something we will look to build on when planning for beyond that time, because we know that there is always more that can be done, that we want to do, and that our customers and regulators expect.”
Severn Trent also kept its top four-star rating, likewise achieving green status for all but one metric after receiving amber for its four serious pollution incidents. The company has consistently scored three or four stars since 2011.
The company’s chief executive Liv Garfield said: “The environment is at the heart of everything we do and we’re pleased to have again been recognised as a leading performer in the sector, achieving the Environment Agency’s highest four-star rating for the third year running. That said we are not complacent, and we know there is more to do. Whether it’s our Get River Positive pledges, creating bathing quality stretches of river or introducing lost species, we are continuing to work hard to enhance nature across our region. We’re focused on continually improving our performance and preserving our region’s most precious natural resource for the benefit of our customers and communities.”
Southern achieved a green rating for self-reporting of incidents, something the company has focused heavily upon after coming under scrutiny for misreporting during 2010-17 for which it was fined by Ofwat and the EA. However, the firm got an overall star rating of one after receiving red status on four metrics, including total pollution incidents (372) and serious pollution incidents (12).
Southern’s director of quality and environment Toby Willison, said: “Our performance last year was not good enough – we are committed to doing better for our customers. We know we have a long way to go, however new investment and new ways of working, including major upgrades to our control centre and pumping stations, and the introduction of tens of thousands of digital monitors across our network, are already making a difference and delivering positive change.
“We continue to be open and honest about our environmental performance and continue to work extremely closely with the Environment Agency and other stakeholders to improve and protect our environment.”
South West also received a one-star rating after meeting none of its targets and only receiving amber status for self-reporting (68%). The company was responsible for 151 pollution incidents, eight of them serious, and had the lowest percentages for both discharge permit compliance (97.5%) and WINEP schemes delivered on time (98%).
Chief executive Susan Davy said she was “deeply disappointed” with the assessment and that the investments and changes it is making are delivering results, including a one-third reduction in pollution incidents last year. “One pollution is one too many, and that’s why we are committed to bringing this down further year on year by strengthening our round-the-clock response, increasing resourcing levels by 25%, and investing £330 million over the next three years in our wastewater network.
“However, we know there is significant progress still to make. EPA assessment criteria are rightly becoming more stringent and customer expectations are increasing, reflecting the need for us to go further and faster in protecting and enhancing the UK’s natural environment. We remain committed to becoming a four-star EPA-rated company by the end of 2024.”
Thames fell from three to two stars this year, with the EPA highlighting 12 serous pollution incidents and 271 overall incidents. The company met targets for discharge permit compliance (99%) and SBDI score (100%) but narrowly missed a green status for WINEP delivery with one outstanding project. The company’s shareholders recently approved £2 billion of additional investment in the business to improve river health as well as boost customer service and leakage performance.
A spokesperson said: “We’re focused on implementing our Pollution Incident Reduction Plan to deliver these changes and as well as ensuring our sewage and water treatments sites meet the high standards set by our regulators. We recently launched our river health commitments which includes a 50% reduction in the total annual duration of spills across London and the Thames Valley by 2030, and within that an 80% reduction in sensitive catchments. This is a key part of our River Health Action Plan to radically improve our position in order to protect and improve the environment, as we strive to eliminate all incidents in the future.”
United Utilities retained its four-star rating and achieved green status across all metrics bar self-reporting, for which it got an amber status after informing the EA of 81% of incidents. It has set out a detailed plan for £230 million of improvements across its region to improve 184km of rivers by the end of this AMP in 2025. Investment will be targeted at making wastewater systems more resilient to heavy rainfall and the company has marked 15 sites for upgrade and expansion.
Jo Harrison, UU’s director of environment planning and innovation, said: “We work very hard to maintain a high level of environmental performance and we’re pleased that for the second year running we have been awarded the top 4-star rating by the Environment Agency.
“We know there is always more to do, and playing our part to improve the health of the region’s rivers is very important to our customers. This is already well underway and, by 2025, we will have invested £230m improving 184km of waterways and we will have developed our plans to progressively reduce the impact of storm overflows in the coming years.”
Wessex Water fell from four to two stars despite achieving green status in five out of six metrics. Although the total number of pollution incidents fell from 87 to 72 – its lowest figure since 2012 – the company received red status for its increase in serious incidents from four to five.
A spokesperson for the company said: “Having been an industry leader for environmental performance for so long, we are very disappointed at the EPA result for 2021.
“However, the Environment Agency did recognise that we had the lowest number of total pollutions for a decade and praised us for self-reporting potential incidents and meeting treatment works compliance.
“We are absolutely focused on achieving zero serious pollutions and, irrespective of any proposed legal sanctions, we will maintain that focus and continue to invest more than ever to protect and enhance the environment, including spending £3 million every month to reduce storm overflows.”
Yorkshire also dropped from four to two stars but met its targets for discharge permit compliance, WINEP delivery and SDBI score. The company received amber status for total pollution incidents (143) and self-reporting (66%) and red status for its five serious pollution incidents.
A spokesperson said: “We’re disappointed with our EPA rating following a five-year period where we’ve continued to reduce pollution incidents and our impact on the environment. However, we understand there is more to do and are currently working with customers and stakeholders locally to understand their environmental ambitions in the region. Environmental improvements form an integral part of our business plan for the next five years and beyond.”