Industry group Water UK acknowledged that the performance of some companies had not been good enough. The industry was set a target to reduce pollution incidents by 40% by 2025 against 2016 levels. Just three companies were responsible for the vast majority of the most serious incidents - Thames Water (33), Southern Water (15) and Yorkshire Water (13). Serious pollution incidents are rising, sewage discharges remain rampant, and our rivers are spiralling toward ecological collapse. The company saw their levels of serious pollution double, and were the worst performer for reporting pollution events to the regulator.

Source: The Times July 19, 2025 01:58 UTC