Welsh Water ‘sorry’ for 89 sewage pollution incidents as Surfers Against Sewage brand rating ‘sickening’

Welsh Water has issued an apology for “any environmental harm” the company has caused after it has been downgraded for the second year in a row.

Natural Resources Wales (NRW) reduced the company’s rating of three stars to two stars meaning it "requires improvement" after it caused 89 sewage pollution incidents in 2022.

Five of the pollution incidents were classed as "having a high or significant impact" but in 2021 the water firm recorded three.

A spokesperson for Welsh Water said it takes its environmental responsibility “very seriously” and is “disappointed” that the company has been reduced to two stars.

It added: “We have the second lowest level of total pollution incidents in the water industry, with the number of pollution incidents having halved over the past 10 years.

“We are sorry, however, for any environmental harm that we have caused.”

Last year the water company was downgraded from a four star rating, to a "good company" rating of three stars following NRW’s environmental performance report for 2021.

The downgrade last year was due to the firm being found to have caused 83 sewage-related pollution incidents, compared to 77 the previous year.

This year NRW also found that Welsh Water failed to make improvements to the number of incidents self-reported with the number falling by 65% - a decrease of 7% from 2021.

Chief Executive of NRW, Clare Pillman, said it is “very disappointing” that the performance of the water company has “continued to decline”.

She said: “Water companies need to take urgent and sustained action to make the changes needed to address the significant pollution incidents we are seeing in our waters.

“In the face of the climate and nature emergencies, the need to act now is ever more important, as our ageing sewer network comes under greater pressure.”

Welsh Water released sewage into its rivers, lakes and the sea for nearly 600,000 hours last year. More than 25% of all the hours of discharges were spilled into waterways across Wales and England.

Five out of nine of England’s water companies were also rated just two stars by the Environment Agency which has been slammed as “sickening” by the environment group Surfers Against Sewage (SAS).

Henry Swithinbank, Policy and Research Manager at SAS, said: “Sickeningly, the majority still have just two stars, meaning they need to make serious improvements. And whilst we welcome that a number of companies have made improvements, the change is far too small and too slow.

“It’s entirely in keeping with the government’s laissez-faire approach to sewage pollution.”

Mr Swithinbank added: “Ending the sewage pollution crisis was never going to be completed overnight, but it certainly shouldn’t be going backwards.”

Only one water company, Severn Trent, has achieved the full four-star rating and the Environment Agency said the numbers of pollution incidents remain “unacceptably high” from its latest Environmental Performance Assessment (EPA).

The EA said the number of pollution incidents in 2022 “were similar to 2021” with the agency’s Chair Alan Lovell adding that it is “unacceptable to still be seeing this level of pollution” and there must be “profound, long-term change”.