Anglian Water still requiring improvement with a two star Environment Agency rating

The Environment Agency has today (Tuesday, July 23) published its annual report which shows an improvement in star ratings for some of the companies under the Environmental Performance Assessment (EPA), but the majority of companies continue to underperform – including Anglian Water, which serves much of Lincolnshire, remaining with a rating of requiring improvement (two stars).

The EPA is the only independent comparison of environmental performance across the sector. Since 2011, the Environment Agency has used the EPA to rate each company in England from one star to four stars.

The aim of the report is to highlight where improvement in water company performance is required and push for continuous improvement across the sector. As the regulator the Environment Agency constantly tightens EPA targets. This has been fundamental in driving better performance, however current performance remains well below expectations.

Severen Trent Water is performing consistently the best, serving residents in the north of Lincolnshire.

This year, five water companies are rated as requiring improvement (2 stars), one company is rated as good (3 stars) and three companies achieved 4 stars.

• Severn Trent Water – 4 stars, the same as the previous year

• United Utilities – 4 stars, up from 3 stars

• Wessex Water – 4 stars, up from 2 stars

• Northumbrian Water – 3 stars, the same as the previous year

• Anglian Water – 2 stars, the same as the previous year

• Southern Water – 2 stars, the same as the previous year

• South West Water – 2 stars, the same as the previous year

• Thames Water – 2 stars, the same as the previous year

• Yorkshire Water –2 stars, down from 3 stars

Anglian Water’s two star rating remains the same as for 2021 and 2022. The rating for two stars means improvement is required.

The main reasons for Anglian Water remaining a 2 star company include:

• 40 pollution incidents from sewerage assets per 10,000km. (307 actual incidents).

• 11 serious incidents from sewerage assets.

In response to the report findings, the Environment Agency has set out further plans to transform its regulation of the water industry.

Environment Agency chairman Alan Lovell said:

“For the nation to have cleaner rivers and seas, water companies must take responsibility to understand the root cause of their problems.

“It is promising to see some companies starting to accept their responsibilities, but it is evident that the pace of improvement continues to fall short.

“We frequently tighten standards to drive better performance and we have been clear that we expect all companies to achieve, and most critically sustain, better environmental performance.

“As part of this we are taking forward our biggest ever transformation in the way we regulate, recruiting up to 500 additional staff, increasing compliance checks and quadrupling the number of water company inspections by March next year. Through additional resources, tightened EPA metrics and new legal powers, we will be playing our part to ensure the industry steps up on the environment.”

Sadia Moeed, Area Director for Environment Agency in East Anglia said: "We are disappointed that Anglian Water is a two star company for the third year in a row. Where there is evidence of non-compliance we will not hesitate to pursue the water company and take appropriate action.

“As part of our national investment in water company regulation we will increase our regulatory presence across Anglian Water’s sites, contributing to the 4,000 inspections across the country this year, increasing to 10,000 next year."

An Anglian Water spokesperson said: “We take our responsibility to protect, restore and improve our region’s environment incredibly seriously. We know that we must do better on some critical measures of environmental performance, and that our customers want to see a demonstrable difference in the action we take to tackle storm spills and reduce pollutions.

“We’ve drastically changed how we operate to address more effectively the unique and complex challenges facing our region, but we knew it was going to take time for this to be reflected in our environmental performance and an improved EPA rating. We are seeing positive changes in many areas of work, and the recent £100m of additional funding from our shareholders means that we can continue with this strategy at pace.”

This year’s report also found that:

• The number of serious pollution incidents increased from 44 in 2022 to 47 in 2023, remaining unacceptably high despite expectation to trend towards zero. Over 90 per cent of these were caused by four companies (Anglian Water, Southern Water, Thames Water and Yorkshire Water), resulting in a polarised performance picture across the sector.

• Total pollution incidents from sewerage and water supply assets increased to 2,174 – the second consecutive annual increase and highest number recorded since 2019.

• Compliance with permit conditions for discharging treated wastewater is not improving, with 45 sites found to be non-compliant.

The Environment Agency is challenging how things have been done in the past to address water industry performance through increasing its capacity and improving capability. Having secured an additional £55m of funding from government and water company permits, the Environment Agency are investing in a bigger specialised enforcement workforce and setting aside £15 million for new digital and monitoring systems to identify the root cause of issues.

In addition, the number of water company inspections will be quadrupled by the end of March 2025 to 4,000 and increased to 10,000 inspections the following year. The evidence gathered through these inspections will inform future performance assessments, investment plans and proactive enforcement.

Since 2015 the Environment Agency has secured 63 prosecutions against water companies, securing fines of over £151 million. In 2023 the Environment Agency concluded 4 prosecutions against 4 different water companies, with fines of more than £6.7 million.