South West Water owner Pennon Group PLC (LSE:PNN, OTC:PEGRY) has apologised for the outbreak of diarrhoea in Brixham, which has affected at least 22 people.
Pennon chief executive Susan Davy said the company had “fallen significantly short”.
Some 16,000 houses have been cut off from the mains while the problem is dealt with.
It is the latest in a string of pollution incidents Pennon and the rest of the industry have been cited for in the past two years.
In March, Pennon admitted its plans to reduce sewage pollution had been put back by two years due to heavy rain clogging up pipes in the southwest.
“The significantly increased wastewater flows have impacted our headline performance for wastewater pollutions and use of storm overflows,” said the statement.
As a result, Pennon said it anticipated being granted just a two-star environmental rating after the knock to the pollution plans.
Coming just ahead of Ofwat’s next five-year review, where the initial rulings on how much money each utility is allowed to make is due next month, the timing is not ideal.
Pennon‘s stretch of coast in Devon and Cornwall contains some of the UK’s best beaches with the company blasted by swimmers and surfers for the levels of sewage it has dumped into the sea over recent years.
The group has already said it will invest £2.8 billion between 2025 and 2030 at South West Water, but if that is enough to satisfy Ofwat, what customer price hikes will be needed to achieve that and what that leaves for dividends remains to be seen.