Anglian Water: Regulator Ofwat's funding sees sewage-dumping water company - where Environment Secretary's wife has senior role - win award

The water industry regulator Ofwat has been slammed for funding a “bunch of expensive clowns” at Anglian Water as illegal sewage spills continue. Last year the water company pleaded guilty and was hit with a fine of £2.65m by the Environment Agency after allowing untreated sewage to overflow into the North Sea.

Ofwat awarded Anglian Water funding through its Innovation Fund in 2021 for the water company’s Safe Smart Systems project. Anglian Water explained that the project will use “smart technologies such as artificial intelligence and machine learning” to “develop a system that will accelerate efforts to achieve our future vision for an automated, connected system that delivers a clean, sustainable supply of water for future generations.” This project then won an award at the Utility Week Awards in December last year.

James Wallace, CEO of campaigning group River Action, said: "On the surface it would seem good news that Anglian Water has signed up to better monitoring of their network that leaks 180 million litres of drinking water a day. Dig deeper and the story is different. 

“This new AI-driven system relies on high quality data. How can we trust an organisation fined £2.65 million for illegal discharges of sewage in 2023 and over abstracting threatened chalk streams by 189 million litres a day?”.

He added: “Let's not forget that Ofwat innovation funding comes from customers - the tax paying public - who have already been asked to pay Anglian Water an extra £9 billion to maintain and extend their neglected infrastructure. We need to see water companies proactively fixing their leaky water pipes now, using investor money, if we have any hope of reducing unsustainable abstraction and coping with the threat of droughts that will hit regions like East Anglia hard."

Mark Barrow, underwater filmmaker at Beneath British Waters, told NationalWorld “but how many litres of water do they lose?” and “the huge amounts of sewage entering the water course?”. He said: “I appreciate we have to find solutions for a sustainable supply of water but let's not destroy the resource we are trying to find solutions for by discharging pollution into it.”

Ofwat posted on X, formerly known as Twitter, spotlighting the funding to Anglian Water adding an image of the water company’s workers at the award ceremony. Responding to the post, one user wrote: "Bunch of expensive clowns. There was a time when we celebrated success, in the water utilities industry seems they get to celebrate failure too." Ashley Smith, campaigner at Windrush Against Sewage Pollution, said: “Wow, is that image real? The stunning disregard for the admitted reality that companies have been cheating the country by underinvesting but claiming massive dividends seems to have passed Ofwat by as it simply dishes out more cash for whatever passes for 'innovation' when most if not all of the big 10 water/sewerage companies routinely act outside the law with impunity and profit from illegal pollution.”

Mr Smith pointed out that the fact the wife of the Environment Secretary, Steve Barclay, working for the awarded Anglian Water also “raises an eyebrow or two”. He said: “Giving the award to the company for which the Environment Secretary's wife works will presumably raise an eyebrow or two among the competitors but we are sure the selection process will be made public, aren't we?”.

Alarms have previously been raised over the potential conflict of interest that the Environment Secretary is married to Karen Barclay, senior executive at Anglian Water. Ms Barclay has been working for the water company since 2018. She started out at the water company as head of stakeholder engagement and corporate corporations, before becoming head of major infrastructure (DCO) planning and stakeholder engagement in April 2020.

NationalWorld contacted Ofwat and the regulator responded with its information page about its fund and what it is trying to achieve. Anglian Water declined to comment.