By Stephen Slominski/Ping News
Southern Water’s Environmental Performance Assessment (EPA) rating has shown some improvement, but the company still needs to enhance its performance, according to the latest annual report released by the Environment Agency.
Specifically regarding Southern Water’s performance in 2022, the report highlights that serious pollution incidents decreased from 12 in 2021 to five in 2022. While there was a slight improvement in the total number of pollution incidents, with 358 incidents in 2022 compared to 372 in 2021, but the figures remain high. The company continued its practice of self-reporting incidents, with 90% of all pollution incidents being reported internally.
Compared to the previous year, there have been modest changes in the star ratings of all water companies under the EPA. Four companies maintained their four-star rating, three improved their rating, and two saw a decline. Southern Water received a two-star rating, indicating an improvement from its previous one-star rating.
Simon Moody, Environment Agency Area Deputy Director, said: “Although we have seen some improvement in Southern Water’s performance, including a significant reduction in the most serious pollution incidents, they remain one of the poorest performing companies in the country. That is unacceptable.
“This year we expect to see them build on the early improvements of 2022 across their entire business and will continue to hold them to account if this is not the case.
“We cannot transform water quality in the way we all want if water companies’ environmental performance does not improve. We will always work closely with water companies who want to do the right thing and take robust action against those who don’t.”
In response to the report ,Southern Water posted a statement on their website emphasising the progress the company has made in achieving a two-star rating along with a 58% reduction in serious pollutions and other signs of progress. The company aims to reach a three-star rating by 2025 and plans to invest over £3 billion by 2025, with an additional £550 million in equity funding by October 2023.
Lawrence Gosden, Southern Water’s CEO, said: “This has been a challenging year for our customers and our business. The sector is under intense scrutiny. We also face diverse and significant regional and industry-wide challenges of climate change, population growth and the need to upgrade a legacy network of pipes and pumping stations, treatment works and storm overflows to meet increasingly stringent regulatory standards and the expectations of our customers and wider.
“We understand and are responding to these challenges. Whilst we are making progress against the commitments outlined by our new majority shareholder in late 2021 and our April 2023 Turnaround Plan, we recognise the desire of all stakeholders for us to go faster. We are directing all our efforts into executing our plans, investing wisely, and employing cutting-edge technology in the right places to highlight risks and to enable us to respond more intelligently and proactively.”
The report coincides with the government’s introduction of new legislation allowing the Environment Agency to impose unlimited civil sanctions on water companies for environmental offenses. This move aims to streamline and expedite the penalty process, although severe cases will still be subject to criminal proceedings.
Over the past six years, the Environment Agency has secured fines totalling over £150 million through prosecutions against water companies. In 2022 alone, nine prosecutions resulted in fines exceeding £4 million.
