Record £168m fine for three water firms over failure on sewage

Thames, Yorkshire and Northumbrian Water will be fined a record £168m between them for a "catalogue of failure" over illegal sewage discharges into rivers and the sea after the industry regulator's biggest investigation yet.

- Julia Kollewe , Sandra Laville

The water regulator for England and Wales, Ofwat, has proposed penalties of £104m for Thames, £47m for Yorkshire and £17m for Northumbrian for failing to manage their wastewater treatment works and networks. It said it was the first of more crackdowns to come.

Ofwat found that all three companies had "routinely" released sewage into rivers and seas, failing to ensure that discharges of sewage from storm overflows occurred only in exceptional circumstances, which had "resulted in harm to the environment and their customers".

The watchdog also found a strong correlation between high spill levels and "operational issues at wastewater treatment sites". Nearly 70% of Thames's treatment plants had operational problems, Ofwat said, and 16% of its storm overflows were operating in breach of their permits and therefore illegally. At Yorkshire, 16% of sewage works had operational problems and 45% of its storm overflows were in breach of their permits.

The £104m fine for Thames, which equates to 9% of the annual turnover of its wastewater operation, was announced as the company tries to secure its financial future after being put into special measures by Ofwat.