Water Firm Anglian Water Acknowledges Insufficient Performance in Pollution Control

Anglian Water, a water company, conceded that its performance in addressing pollution “hasn’t been good enough.” The water regulator, Ofwat, directed Anglian Water in October to issue refunds totaling £38.1m to its customers. This amount represented the second largest refund mandated by Ofwat among UK water companies. However, Regan Harris, Anglian Water’s spokesperson, informed BBC Radio Lincolnshire that “we are seeing improvements.” Ms. Harris stated that Ofwat had imposed a fine on the company due to its “impact on the environment.” She elaborated, “We’re holding our hands up, performance hasn’t been good enough but we’ve made a lot of changes over the last few years and we are starting to see an improvement but it will take time to come to fruition.” The BBC Radio Lincolnshire program “Hotseat,” an hour-long segment, presents politicians and decision-makers who respond to public inquiries. During the program, Pete Richards, a caller from Horncastle, questioned whether Anglian Water had adequately invested to address its challenges. He specifically asked, “Why haven’t you been investing for the last forty years for example?” Ms. Harris responded that the company has invested £20bn since 1989. She stated, “The fact that we’ve invested in resilience to climate change and providing for a growing population means that we didn’t have to have a hosepipe ban two or three summers ago when nearly the rest of the country did.” She added, regarding wastewater, “On the waste water side, yes there is work to do to invest in some of that and that’s why we’re having conversations with our regulator to allow that investment.” Another caller, Hilda, expressed concern to Anglian Water, stating, “We live near the coast and I’m worried about the amount of sewage pumped into the sea…Why are you pumping sewage into the sea?” Regan Harris clarified, “It is going into the sea, but only in extreme circumstances when there’s heavy rainfall.” Anglian Water presently utilizes 1500 drains for storm overflows of this nature, but the company is engaged in a program aimed at replacing them. Regan Harris noted, “Since privatisation we’ve got rid of several hundred and that is an ongoing programme of work.” Furthermore, the firm announced plans for “a billion pounds worth of investment just on tackling storm overflows.” The hour-long discussion additionally covered topics such as proposals for a reservoir in Lincolnshire, utility bills, and flooding. The full broadcast is available for listening on BBC Sounds. Highlights from Lincolnshire can be accessed on BBC Sounds, the latest episode of Look North can be watched, or stories for coverage can be submitted via the provided link. Copyright 2024 BBC. All rights reserved. The BBC bears no responsibility for the content of external sites. Information regarding their approach to external linking is available.