LOCAL water supplier Severn Trent has been rated as the top performing water company in the country by the Environment Agency.
However its annual report on the environmental performance of England’s water and sewerage companies showed four out of nine firms were falling short of expected standards.
Severn Trent however scored an industry leading four stars – one of only two companies to do so.
The report rates each company in England from 1 star to 4 star, based on a range of measures including serious pollution incidents, pollution per km of sewer pipes and compliance with permits.
It found:
Severn Trent and Wessex Water achieved the highest level of performance with 4 star (industry leading)
Thames, United Utilities and Yorkshire Water are rated as 3 star (good)
Anglian, Northumbrian and South West Water are rated as 2 star (requiring improvement)
Southern Water is the first company to be rated as 1 star (poor) since 2015
While the number of serious water quality pollution incidents from water company sewerage and clean water assets has plateaued – with a slight improvement to 52 compared to 56 in 2018 – the total number of pollution incidents has increased.
In light of these results, both the Environment Secretary George Eustice and the Chair of the Environment Agency, Emma Howard Boyd, will be holding meetings with all under performing companies to discuss improving their poor performance.
Emma said: “We cannot transform water quality in the way we all want if water companies’ environmental performance continues to backslide.
“Severn Trent and Wessex Water show high performance is possible, and United Utilities have had no serious pollution incidents for the second year in a row, but the evidence suggests that the rest of the sector isn’t listening.”
