CAMPAIGNERS warned that water companies will see fines as a “cost of business as usual” after the water regulator announced a probe into sewage spills today.
All 11 water and wastewater companies in England and Wales are now being investigated by Ofwat.
The regulator opened an investigation in 2021 into a third of treatment works.
Southern Water was already on the monitoring list and fined £90 million for deliberately pouring sewage into the sea.
Cases were opened against Anglian Water, Northumbrian Water, South West Water, Thames Water, Wessex Water and Yorkshire Water in 2022, with investigations still ongoing.
Since then, spills have more than doubled to 3.6 million hours in 2023 from 1.75 million hours in 2022.
Ofwat announced today that Dwr Cymru Welsh Water, Hafren Dyfrdwy, Severn Trent and United Utilities will now also be under scrutiny.
The regulator has handed out fines amounting to more than £300m over the years.
But campaigners caution that these fines could be simply absorbed as a regular business expense.
And analysis by the University of Greenwich found that the top 10 water firms have paid out £72.8 billion in dividends, when taking inflation into account, since privatisation.
River Action CEO James Wallace said: “Whenever a water company is found guilty of environmental damage to our rivers, we need the punishment to fit the crime.
“Penalties must incentivise convicted polluters to upgrade their leaking infrastructure, rather than absorb fines as a cost of business as usual.”
Cat Hobbs, director of We Own It, said: “It’s absolutely absurd that every single one of the privatised water companies is now being investigated.
“Clearly, the whole system of privatisation needs to be investigated and must come to an end.
“The sewage crisis cannot be solved company by company, especially when Ofwat is simultaneously letting water companies off the hook by increasing our bills to pay for their failures.
“The government can use existing legal powers to take water companies into public hands on the basis of insolvency or failure to fulfil their statutory duties.
“We cannot afford to carry on letting these companies build up debt and leak out dividends at our expense — we need this money to clean up rivers and seas.”
Surfers Against Sewage policy manager Henry Swithinbank said: “It is clear to everyone that the system is broken. We are calling for a full public inquiry, we need root-and-branch change to end the sewage crisis once and for all.”
