Ofwat raises serious concerns over five firms’ sewage treatment works

theguardian.com:

The water regulator Ofwat has serious concerns over the way sewage treatment works at five water companies have been operated, as it continues to investigate the industry.

Anglian Water, Northumbrian Water, Thames Water, Wessex Water and Yorkshire Water submitted reports in December that have worried the regulator, Ofwat said on Wednesday. It said it was taking further action against the five companies and had started enforcement cases against them all.

In 2020 the Guardian revealed that water firms had discharged raw sewage into England’s rivers 200,000 times the previous year. And last year Ofwat and the Environment Agency announced an investigation into potentially illegal dumping of raw sewage into rivers and coastal waters by water companies.

The inquiry came after evidence that the scale of illegal discharges of raw sewage could be 10 times higher than disclosed by the firms. As part of the inquiry, water companies had to disclose information about the way they operated their treatment works, including details of potentially illegal discharges into waterways.

“The data that emerged at the end of last year suggested widespread shortcomings in how water companies were running sewage treatment works. The first phase of our investigation suggests those concerns are credible,” said Ofwat’s interim boss, David Black.

“We have identified shortcomings in most water and wastewater companies and are continuing to investigate. But we have already seen enough in five companies to cause serious concern and warrant us taking further action.”

Ofwat said companies either reported a large number of wastewater treatment works that might not be meeting environmental rules, or failed to show how they were operating their works, or it had