Britain Introduces New Law to Crack Down on Water Execs Who Pollute Waterways

Discharge flows into the River Thames at Crossness sewage treatment works in London, England on March 27, 2024. Dan Kitwood / Getty Images

Britain has introduced new legislation in an attempt to crack down on water companies that pollute its lakes, rivers and seas, in what the government says is “the most significant increase in enforcement powers in a decade.”

The Water (Special Measures) Bill will give new powers to regulators to take faster and more stringent action to prevent water companies from harming the environment and “failing their customers,” a press release from the Department for Environment, Food & Rural Affairs (DEFRA) said.

“The public are furious that in 21st century Britain, record levels of sewage are being pumped into our rivers, lakes and seas. After years of neglect, our waterways are now in an unacceptable state. That is why today I am announcing immediate action to end the disgraceful behaviour of water companies and their bosses,” said Steve Reed, Secretary of State for DEFRA, in the press release. “[W]ater executives will no longer line their own pockets whilst pumping out this filth. If they refuse to comply, they could end up in the dock and face prison time. This Bill is a major step forward in our wider reform to fix the broken water system.”

In addition to prison time, the new law will ban bonuses to water bosses who fail to meet strict environmental protection standards while at the same time safeguarding the companies’ finances and their customers.

In civil cases, the burden of proof will be lowered to enable the Environment Agency to more easily bring criminal charges against water bosses, reported BBC News.

The bill includes severe automatic fines for a variety of offenses and allows regulators to swiftly issue penalties without having to conduct lengthy investigations, DEFRA said in the press release. Independent monitoring of sewage outlets will also be introduced, and water companies will be required to publish data for emergency overflows in real time, along with a requirement that discharges be reported an hour or less after the initial spill.

“The Bill creates new tougher penalties including imprisonment for water executives when companies fail to co-operate or obstruct Environment Agency and Drinking Water Inspectorate investigations. Previously, the maximum punishment for most cases of obstruction was merely a fine. We will increase sentencing powers to include imprisonment, with offences triable in both the Crown and Magistrates’ Court,” DEFRA said.

Water companies will also be responsible for the cost of enforcement actions taken because of their failings.

Since 2020, water chief executives have given themselves big bonuses, incentives and benefits to the tune of more than $54 million. The bill will give the Water Services Regulation Authority the power to ban performance-related pay, including bonuses for water companies’ senior leadership and chief executives, unless high standards of “fitness and propriety” are met for protecting the environment and consumers, criminal liability and financial resilience. The companies will also be required to involve customers in decision-making.

Just 14 percent of rivers in England have been found to be ecologically healthy, BBC News reported.

Following decades of inadequate investment in sewage infrastructure, the system is often not able to deal with the volume of sewage and rainwater, which causes spilling. In 2023, the total spills across the sewage network in England took 3.6 million hours to address.

“On the surface, this new bill simply doesn’t look up to scratch to tackling the sewage scandal that has plagued our nation’s rivers and waterways,” a statement from the Liberal Democrats said, as BBC News reported. “Only a complete overhaul of this disgraced industry and a tough new regulator will end the sewage crisis.”

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