United Utilities achieves highest rating in Environment Agency’s annual environment report

Photo: tanawatpontchour - stock.adobe.com

United Utilities was one of three water suppliers that sustained the highest level of performance for most of the last five years

Local water supplier United Utilities has achieved the highest rating in the Environment Agency’s latest annual environment report for its performance on environmental commitments such as pollution incidents and treatment work compliance.

United Utilities was one of three companies that sustained the highest level of performance for most of the last five years, but the Environment Agency says certain improvements are still required.

Whilst there were improvements in 2020, none of England’s nine water and sewerage companies achieved all the expectations for the period 2015 to 2020.

These included the reduction of total pollution incidents by at least one-third compared with 2012 and for incident self-reporting to be at least 75%.

Serious pollution incidents declined for the second year in a row to the lowest number ever – but while there were 285 fewer total pollution incidents than in 2019, it was still the second highest number of total incidents since 2015.

No serious pollution incidents were recorded from United Utilities assets.

A spokesperson for United Utilities said: “We are pleased to have achieved the highest 4-star rating for our environmental performance last year. We work hard to fulfil our environmental responsibilities and we know that our customers expect us to go further.

“There are particular challenges facing us here in the North West. Our drainage network is designed to cope with some of the highest rainfall levels in the UK, which results in more frequent overflows into our rivers. We are looking at innovative ways to adapt to increasingly extreme weather.

“Water companies are not the only source of pollution affecting our environment – other industries such as agriculture also have a role to play. That’s why our new partnership with The Rivers Trust will bring together everyone with an impact on the health of our rivers to foster better collaboration and target longer term investment in tackling any pollution, whatever the source.”

Since 2011 the EA has used the Environmental Performance Assessment (EPA), which rates each company in England from 1 star to 4 star, for performance on environmental commitments such as pollution incidents and treatment work compliance.

Where these commitments are not achieved, companies will face underperformance penalties, with Ofwat having new powers to levy fines from 2020.

Environment Agency Chair Emma Howard Boyd said: “Over half the water sector is now achieving the highest industry rating, showing that clear targets and regulatory focus combined with investment in the environment delivers change in the water sector. But, some companies are still failing in their duty to the environment and there remains a tendency to reach for excuses rather than grasp the nettle.

“I have been meeting water company chairs in the last few weeks to set out our expectations for them to redouble their efforts to improve or maintain their environmental performance – something which continues to be a priority for both customers and shareholders.”