Five of Britain’s water utilities are facing enforcement action from their regulator over the amount of sewage being pumped into the UK’s waterways.
Ofwat said it is taking action against Thames Water, Anglian Water, Northumbrian Water, Wessex Water and Yorkshire Water after a request in December for information about the performance of their sewage works and what they were doing to rectify any problems,
All five, which are unlisted and owned either by overseas investors or investment groups, have been issued formal notices to gather further information for enforcement purposes.
Ofwat added that while the focus is on those five firms, an investigation into the rest of the industry over the sewage is still ongoing.
“All water and wastewater companies in England and Wales remain subject to our ongoing investigation as we continue to review the information we have gathered,” it said.
David Black. Ofwat's interim chief executive added: "We will now dig deeper into what these five companies have been doing, with the prospect of formal enforcement against them if we find they are failing on obligations Ofwat enforces,"
Companies can face fines of up to 10% of their annual turnover if found culpable under an enforcement notice.
A report in January from parliament’s Environmental Audit Committee (EAC) blamed the poor water quality in UK rivers on "chronic" underinvestment and multiple failures in monitoring, governance and enforcement.
Only 14% of English rivers meet good ecological status and not a single river in England has received a clean bill of health for chemical contamination, the EAC report said.
Shares in listed water companies United Utilities PLC, Pennon PLC and Severn Trent PLC (LSE:SVT) and which were not named today all saw their share prices rise by between 1.3-1.6%.