England’s serious water pollution incidents at 10-year high

The number of pollution incidents recorded by water companies in England is at a ten-year high, according to data obtained by campaigners.

Surfers Against Sewage said the Environment Agency data showed the number of incidents was more than double its target.

Such spills have the potential to cause damage to wildlife and illness for people making use of the country’s rivers and seas.

Water UK, the industry body representing UK water and sewage companies, said companies plan to invest £12bn to reduce spills by the end of the decade.

As well as reporting the total number of sewage spills annually, environmental regulator the Environment Agency also records the number of pollution incidents, which are likely to cause serious harm to wildlife and people.

Eight years ago, the EA remarked that the water sector was not doing enough to reduce these incidents. It said this was causing “distress to local communities and blighting rivers and beaches.”

The industry was set a target to reduce these incidents by 40% by 2025 against 2016 levels.

The latest publicly availably data is to the end of 2023. But following a Freedom of Information request, Surfers Against Sewage obtained the data up to the start of 2025.

This showed that 2,487 pollution incidents were recorded last year – a 31% increase on the 2016 levels, and almost double the original EA target.

“The water industry fails, fails and fails again,” said Giles Bristow, CEO of Surfers Against Sewage.

He called for a reform of the system so that it “prioritises public health and value for customer money and delivers healthy coastlines, rivers and lakes.”

Water UK responded to the findings on behalf of the nine companies responsible for handling sewage in England.

“We have been clear that the water system is not working and support the Independent Water Commission looking at every aspect of how the industry is regulated.

“However, no sewage spill is ever acceptable and water companies are investing £12 billion to almost halve spills from storm overflows by 2030,” Water UK said.

Most of the money for that investment is expected to come from increases to water bills, which started to take effect this month.

The industry regulator Ofwat is allowing water companies to raise bills by an average of £31 each year over the next five years – but those rises don’t include inflation, which means actual bills are likely to be higher.

The Water Commission is an independent review, set up by the government, to look at different ways of regulating the industry following increased public anger over water company performance.

Chairman Sir Jon Cunliffe, a former deputy governor of the Bank of England, is inviting submissions from the public until next week.