Water firm told to improve on pollution record

Yorkshire Water said it had a "robust improvement plan in place"

Yorkshire Water has been downgraded in its environmental performance for its "unacceptable" and "disappointing" record.

The company was downgraded from a three-star rating to two out of four in the Environment Agency's Environmental Performance Assessment (EPA) for 2023.

It was also among four of England's nine water companies to be rated red, meaning "significantly below target", after five serious pollution incidents.

Yorkshire Water said it was "certainly not the outcome we want" and it had a "robust improvement plan in place".

Thames Water, Anglian Water and Southern Water also received red ratings.

The Environment Agency (EA) said the majority of water companies were continuing to underperform and it was to set a "tougher approach" to water industry regulation.

Since 2011 the EPA report, the only independent comparison of water companies' environmental performance, has been used to rate each company from one to four stars.

'Expect rapid actions'

Mike Dugher of the EA in Yorkshire said it was "disappointing" that Yorkshire Water had been downgraded to two stars after being awarded three in 2022.

“We know this is due to performance around pollution incidents and we are clear that this simply must improve," he said.

"We expect to see Yorkshire Water take rapid actions to address their current poor performance."

He added there was no room for complacency, even if the company performed well in some areas such as permit compliance.

The report showed Yorkshire Water had five serious pollution incidents in 2023, compared with three in 2022.

It also had four more pollution incidents per 10,000km of sewer than in 2022.

The EA said its performance remained "well below expectations" and it expected "sustained improvements".

It added the company must also improve its reporting of incidents, with its current record of self-reporting 9% below the industry average of 84%.

Yorkshire Water said: "We have a robust improvement plan in place to reduce pollution incidents in the short and long term, focusing on using new technology to improve visibility of the underground network so we can take action before issues on the network begin to impact the environment, and making improvements in self-reporting to further improve performance."

It said climate change was a "significant factor" with 2023's "extremely wet weather" leading to an increase in serious pollution incidents.

"The wet weather has continued into early 2024, posing further challenges for us in reducing pollution incidents to where we want them to be," the company said.

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