In our fourth CEO’s blog, Dr Laurence Couldrick shares his thoughts on the latest Environmental Performance Assessment Report from the Environment Agency.

You might think that privies and cesspools may be a thing of the past, but with more and more stories about our failing water and sewage systems, you could be forgiven in thinking we are heading backward not forward in time.

On 23 July 2024, the Environment Agency published its Water and Sewerage Companies in England: Environmental Performance Assessment Report (EPA) 2023.

Within the report, the EA rated the nine water companies in England from one star to four stars, as it has since 2011. This year, three water companies reached the maximum four EPA stars due to ongoing improvements. Will this spur others on to improve, including our region’s main provider, South West Water (SWW), which remained at two stars from 2022?

The EA certainly hope so and Alan Lovell, Chair of the Environment Agency, said in his foreword to the report:

“…My over-riding sense is one of frustration and disappointment. The results we see are, yet again, simply not good enough…
“…With additional resources in place, a focus on transparent inspection and regulation, tightened EPA metrics and new legal powers, we are bringing stronger regulation to this sector in the coming year. We shall continue to drive for improved performance.”

Local issues

In terms of our local water company, SWW, it is the only firm failing numeric permit conditions and classed in the bottom (red) category for discharging treated wastewater via sewage and water treatment works. Regarding total pollution incidents from sewerage assets, there has been an increase to 1,902 with no water company achieving target (green), the first time for any metric since the EPA began – but SWW is highlighted as continuing to perform significantly below target and rated ‘red’.

In addition, SWW failed to meet all requirements within planned deadlines under the Water Industry National Environment Programme (WINEP) EPA metric for planned environmental improvement schemes, joining two other firms at the ‘amber’ level.

It is still one of the lowest performing companies and in need of improvement and this is a massively disappointing position. The trust works closely with SWW to try and improve our rivers by working with farmers and improving sections of rivers so it is devastating to see pollution incidents continuing to degrade the environment. Whilst work is scheduled to deal with a lot of these negative impacts it is vital we work together to ensure we build resilience within our system.

Call for smart change

Alongside these local impacts, and according to the report, more than 90% of serious pollution incidents were caused by four water companies – Anglian Water, Southern Water, Thames Water and Yorkshire Water. We could turn a blind eye as they aren’t in our patch, but we all need to bolster the work to be done across the country to address the infrastructure, climate and societal issues hindering the water sector’s ability to fully ensure our rivers are healthy and our water access is sustainable. This is why we support our national Rivers Trust to keep pressure on the sector to push for smart change.

The report did include some positive EPA metric notes such as all water companies performing better than target (green) for satisfactory sludge use and disposal; the best results for self-reporting of all pollution incidents since reporting began; and all achieving green under the Supply Demand Balance Index (SDBI).

The EA has secured an additional £55m of funding from government and water company permits to invest in 500 staff in dedicated enforcement teams and new digital systems to identify the root cause of issues. It cites it will conduct 4,000 inspections a year of water company permitted sites by the end of March 2025, rising to 10,000 a year by the end of March 2026 and 11,500 a year by the end of March 2027. It is expected the evidence gathered through these inspections will inform future performance assessments, investment plans and proactive enforcement.

Act positive for constructive and sustainable change

So in summary, despite the findings still painting an overall bleak picture, with a new government, the culmination of the price review from regulators Ofwat on the horizon, and policies in the Environment Act and Environmental Improvement Plan to deliver, this is the time to act positive and keep chipping away for constructive and sustainable change.

Dr Laurence Couldrick, Chief Executive Officer

The reports concludes by stating:

“Expectations for high performing water companies remains front and foremost for us as well as the public. The solutions are complex, and with increased data and scrutiny more issues will be highlighted but the environment will benefit.”

Read the report at gov.uk/government/publications/water-and-sewerage-companies-in-england-environmental-performance-report-2023

See the EPA Metric Guide for how it measures against target.