Severn Trent PLC (LSE:SVT) hailed its environmental performance after it received a four-star rating from the Environmental Agency for the fifth year running.
However, this accolade came just months after the company was fined £2 million for dumping sewage into the River Trent in Stoke and missing other environmental targets.
At the time of the Stoke incident, the Environment Agency described Severn Trent’s contingency plans as “woefully inadequate”.
Only last week, regulator Ofwat started formal enforcement action against Severn Trent and several other listed rivals over the frequency of sewage spills from storm overflows.
Severn Trent also missed its compliance risk index target (CRI) last year, with sewage spills in 2023 rising by a third to more than 60,000.
Supplying 4.8 million households in the Midlands, Severn Trent today boasted that it was the only water supplier “to have achieved five consecutive years of ‘industry-leading’ environmental status,” adding that it was on track for a sixth year.
The FTSE 100-listed group added that its five-year business plan has been rated as outstanding and includes an additional £2bn investment to improve river quality, with £1.2bn earmarked for storm overflows.
It aims to halve the rate at which it spills sewage by 2030.
Chief executive Liv Garfield, whose salary of £3.2 million has also been criticised given the company’s sewage record, said: “While we welcome the tougher measures, year on year, to drive continued improvements, there’s always more to be done and we’re doing it.”
The Environment Agency said that last year four companies were responsible for 90% of serious pollution incidents – Anglian, Southern, Thames, and Yorkshire.