LABOUR has vowed to give water regulator Ofwat new powers to block company bonuses following a new sewage pollution scandal.
A BBC Panorama investigation revealed north-west water firm United Utilities appears to have misreported its sewage pollution and received a £5 million bonus for meeting environmental targets.
Leaked documents reportedly suggested that more than 60 cases were wrongly downgraded to the lowest level, meaning they are not counted as pollution incidents in the official figures.
Insiders at the company and the Environment Agency told the documentary that United Utilities has been misreporting sewage pollution that should have been in the more serious categories 1-3 but were classified as category 4.
These incidents are often sewage discharges caused by blockages or equipment failure which can kill wildlife and endanger human health.
One of the cover-ups concerned a World Heritage Site at Windermere in the Lake District after a fault in June 2022 led to raw sewage pumped into the middle of the lake.
Pollution incident reports are signed off by the Environment Agency, whose officers have visited just six of the 931 reported pollution incidents in the last three years, the BBC said.
Shadow environment secretary Steve Reed MP accused the government of having “wilfully turned a blind eye to corruption at the heart of the water industry.”
He said: “Labour will strengthen regulation to make sure every single water outlet is monitored so we know the true extent of this sewage crisis.
“Water bosses who continue to oversee law-breaking on the scale now becoming apparent will face criminal charges, and we will give the water regulator powers to block the payment of any bonuses until water bosses have cleaned up their filth.”
Labour also tabled a Commons motion calling on the government to give water regulators the power to ban chief executives’ bonuses if their companies are polluting rivers, lakes and seas.
Senior executives from five of the 11 water companies that deal with sewage took bonuses this year, while at the other six they declined after public outrage.
Environmental campaigners however warned the measures won’t be enough.
Tessa Wardley, director of communications and advocacy at The Rivers Trust, said: “This investigation confirms that self-regulation does not work.
“We really need the government to get a grip on this, by providing sufficient funding and direction to regulators and a clear message to water companies and other polluters about what is expected of them.”
Josh Harris, of environmental charity Surfers Against Sewage, said: “With a ghost regulator, and water companies left to self-report, it’s no surprise they’re fiddling the numbers. They’ve been marking their own homework for years.
“Without full transparency, and robust regulation, polluters will find new ways to cover up their wrongdoings and continue to treat our waterways like open sewers.”
In a statement, United Utilities said it “strongly rejects” the allegations made by Panorama, adding the Environment Agency “determines both the initial and final categorisation of pollution incidents.”
The Environment Agency said: “We take our responsibility to protect the environment very seriously and will always pursue and prosecute companies that are deliberately obstructive or misleading.”
