Anglian Water rated just two stars by environment agency after 'serious' pollution incidents during 2023

The damning results were published today (July 23), with the water company ranked as "requires improvement" - while it was also involved in "serious pollution incidents" during 2023.

The agency reviewed last year's environmental performance of England’s nine water and sewerage companies, with the majority continuing "to underperform".

However, Anglian Water says it knows it "must do better" and that it takes its environmental responsibility "incredibly seriously".

The Environment agency stated: "The main reasons for Anglian Water remaining a two star company include: 40 pollution incidents from sewerage assets per 10,000km (307 actual incidents), and 11 serious incidents from sewerage assets."

Environment Agency chair, Alan Lovell, said: "Water companies must take responsibility to understand the root cause of their problems.

"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.”

Since 2011, the Environment Agency has used the EPA to rate each company in England from one star to four stars.

Sadia Moeed, area director for Environment Agency in East Anglia, added: "Where there is evidence of non-compliance we will not hesitate to pursue the water company and take appropriate action."

Worringly, the number of serious pollution incidents in England increased from 44 in 2022 to 47 in 2023, remaining "unacceptably high" - and the agency says that over 90 per cent of these were caused by four companies: Anglian Water, Southern Water, Thames Water and Yorkshire Water.

Indeed, Anglian Water has come under fire recently for discharging sewage into Bedford rivers, for sewage overflows in Great Barford, and for sewage spills across Central Bedfordshire increasing throughout 2023.

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.”

The other companies to receive star ratings were: Severn Trent Water – four stars, the same as the previous year; United Utilities – four stars, up from three stars; Wessex Water – four stars, up from two stars; Northumbrian Water – three stars, the same as the previous year; Southern Water – two stars, the same as the previous year; South West Water – two stars, the same as the previous year; Thames Water – two stars, the same as the previous year; Yorkshire Water – two stars, down from three stars.