South West Water hit with £7.8m fine for ‘horrendous’ pollution offences Water The Environment Agency has fined South West Water £7.8m over a string of pollution-related offences across Devon and Cornwall. The water company pleaded guilty to 24 environmental charges after the Environment Agency investigated incidents that took place between January 2015 and July 2021 in Bodmin, Harlyn, Polperro, Plymouth, and Playing Place. Of the charges, 17 [...]
Former Southern Water boss charged with conspiracy to defraud Law The former boss of Southern Water is among four of the water firm’s ex-employees set to face criminal proceedings for conspiracy to defraud. The Environment Agency (EA) alleges that between January 2012 and December 2017 Matthew Wright helped manipulate the operator self-monitoring testing regime by implementing “artificial no-flow events” at wastewater treatment works. The government [...]
Fevertree takes Environment Agency to court over green packaging tax Retail Fevertree has launched a legal challenge against the Environment Agency over its application of a sustainability packaging tax, which is charged on glass bottles. The premium drink mixer brand claims the glass used in some of its products should be classified as non-household packaging and be exempted from the Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR) levy, and [...]
Businesses to pay £1.1bn in new packaging fees to councils July 26, 2025 Councils in England are set to receive a share of £1.1 billion in recycling funding taken from money charged to companies for the packaging they produce. Under the current system, local councils have footed the bill for disposing of items such as milk bottles, cereal boxes and soup tins using taxpayers’ money. But the new [...]
Environment Secretary pledges to halve sewage pollution by 2030 July 19, 2025 The Environment Secretary has pledged to cut sewage pollution from water companies in half by 2030 compared to 2024 levels. Steve Reed will announce the target as he speaks to the media on Sunday morning. The government said it marks the first time ministers have set a clear target on reducing sewage pollution to which [...]
Ofwat to be replaced with ‘new regulator’ amid Thames Water crisis July 18, 2025 Ofwat, the water watchdog, is expected to be abolished and replaced by a new body next week after facing intense scrutiny over sewage firms and the poor performance of major companies including Thames Water, according to reports. A consultation on the creation of a new regulator is expected to be announced next week after results [...]
Macquarie to inject £1.2bn into struggling Southern Water July 1, 2025 Macquarie is to invest £1.2bn into the struggling utility Southern Water in a move that could prevent a possible breach of its regulatory license. The new equity investment plan will enable Southern, which supplies water to 2.6m customers in Kent, Sussex, Hampshire and the Isle of Wight, to fund its Ofwat-approved investment programme for the [...]
Record 81 criminal investigations opened into water firms May 20, 2025 Over 80 criminal investigations into water firms have been launched since the general election, which if proven could leave bosses facing five years in jail and firms on the hook for hundreds of millions of pounds, the environment watchdog has said. The Environment Agency has used new powers handed to it by the government to [...]
UK’s ageing water network would take 700 years to replace at current rate April 25, 2025 Britain’s ageing water network would take 700 years to replace if work continues at the rate seen since privatisation, according to Whitehall’s spending watchdog. The National Audit Office (NAO) on Friday released an extensive investigation into the performance of the the three water regulators, Ofwat, the Drinking Water Inspectorate and the Environment Agency, and Defra. [...]
South West Water customers given £450m in subsidies while firm dished out £1.5bn in dividends November 25, 2024 South West Water customers were given nearly half a billion pounds in government subsidies to keep their bills down, despite the water firm shelling out three times that amount in dividends to shareholders over the same period. The Department of Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra) has been giving people in South West Water’s catchment [...]