Provider fined £1.4m for drinking water failures

Anglian Water serves almost seven million people, primarily in the East of England

Anglian Water has been fined a record £1.42m after failures led to flakes and powder entering people's drinking water.

About 1.3m people in the East of England were affected by the negligence between June and December 2021.

Environment Secretary Steve Reed said the problem was "scandalous and a complete disgrace".

The water provider admitted five offences under the Water Supply (Water Quality) Regulations 2016 and was sentenced at Northampton Crown Court.

Anglian Water was investigated by the Drinking Water Inspectorate (DWI), which found it had "poor oversight" of its supply chain and a lack of staff training.

The company, which apologised for the issues, also supplies customers in Nottinghamshire, Lincolnshire and Rutland.

It repeatedly used unapproved plastic-based products to coat pipework submerged within water tanks.

These coatings later broke down into flakes and powder that entered the water supply.

The sentencing hearing took place at Northampton Crown Court

"Contamination of drinking water on any scale is scandalous and a complete disgrace," Reed said.

"The record £1.4m fine handed down sends a clear signal that this criminal behaviour is unacceptable."

The DWI investigation found water tanks continued to be used even after Anglian Water knew they contained unapproved products.

All of the issues across Anglian Water's network have since been rectified.

Marcus Rink, DWI's chief inspector, said: "Public health and drinking water quality must be the highest priority, and there can be no compromise.

"We've taken firm action in the public interest to ensure the company has removed all non-compliant material, so that customers can remain confident in their water supplies."

An Anglian Water spokeswoman said it regretted "falling short" and apologised to customers.

"As a result, we have since invested significantly to improve these and have shared our learnings across the water industry," she said.

"Protecting the water supply of our customers could not be more fundamental to our business.

"Despite the breach, there was no evidence of any contamination of the water supply and the judge agreed based on independent expert reports that the risk to customers was very low."