The atmosphere watchdog prosecuted simply 4 water corporations for breaching an overflow allow between 2018 and 2022 regardless of a whole lot of hundreds of sewage spills over that interval, based on official knowledge.

Southern Water, Severn Trent, Anglian Water and Yorkshire Water have been prosecuted by the Surroundings Company and fined a complete of simply over £94mn in seven circumstances. A single positive levied in opposition to Southern Water accounted for £90mn of that complete, based on knowledge obtained by means of a Freedom of Info request submitted by the Monetary Instances.

The circumstances concerned breaches of “storm overflow” permits, which permit waste water to be launched from the sewerage system into rivers or the ocean underneath sure circumstances, to forestall it from being overwhelmed.

The dearth of prosecutions comes in opposition to a backdrop of rising public anger over the amount of sewage polluting the UK’s waterways and seas, which has prompted fierce criticism of water corporations and regulators. Water corporations paid out £1.4bn in dividends final yr, based on FT analysis.

In 2022 alone, 10 water and sewerage corporations working in England discharged sewage into rivers and the ocean on 301,091 events.

Marketing campaign teams say the EA is critically under-resourced and unable to carry corporations to account for environmental offences.

“Environmental safety has been defunded” because of years of austerity measures, stated Charles Watson, founding father of River Motion UK, a charity and campaigning group, this week. “We’re dependent as the general public and enterprise on the regulators doing their job they usually’re not.”

Rebecca Pow, a junior atmosphere minister, stated in March that the amount of sewage coming into the UK’s waters was “unacceptable”.

Though a lot of final yr’s greater than 300,000 sewage spills have been authorized, there have been 554 breaches of storm overflow permits in 2022, and greater than 1,600 since 2020, based on authorities knowledge, which didn’t disclose what penalties have been imposed.

There have been additionally no less than 15 cases in 2022 when two water corporations — Southern Water and Wessex Water — discharged sewage into the atmosphere with no storm overflow allow, the info exhibits.

The EA stated this week that polluting rivers was “unacceptable” and that it was “holding the water business to account on a scale by no means seen earlier than”.

Breaching a storm overflow allow may end up in a variety of penalties, together with written warnings, prosecutions and “enforcement undertakings”, that are presents made by an offending firm to treatment the issue and make a donation to charity.

Between June and December 2022, the EA accepted only one enforcement enterprise from a water firm, Welsh Water, in relation to allow breaches on the firm’s sewage therapy works.

Welsh Water agreed to pay £50,000 to the ecology charity the Wye and Usk Basis. The corporate stated it strived to “function all of our property in full compliance with their permits”.

Along with the storm overflow guidelines, corporations will be prosecuted for sewage spills underneath the “water discharge actions” laws. Between 2018 and 2022, three water corporations have been prosecuted by the EA for breaching water discharge permits by spilling sewage, based on authorities knowledge.

Ofwat, the water business regulator, has fined only one privatised utility for breaching laws designed to forestall sewage spills in England for the reason that guidelines got here into pressure virtually 30 years in the past.

The regulator is now investigating six water corporations over issues that they could have breached sewage laws, whereas the EA is trying into doubtlessly unlawful discharges at greater than 2,000 sewage works.

Southern Water stated it was “on the forefront of the business in monitoring and self-reporting to the Surroundings Company”. Purposes at websites with out permits “have been submitted and are pending”.

Yorkshire Water stated it operated “over 2,200 overflows throughout the area and while it’s uncommon, typically issues can go flawed and we’re unable to function to the requirements set out within the allow. If it does, we do every thing we will to minimise the influence to the atmosphere.”

Anglian Water and Severn Trent declined to remark.