LONDON (Reuters) -Britain set out new legislation on Thursday to toughen the oversight of water companies, with penalties including imprisonment for bosses if they obstruct investigations into the contamination of rivers, lakes and seas.
Sewage spills in the UK hit a record high in 2023, amplifying public anger at the state of the country’s dirty rivers and the private companies responsible for the pollution, such as the country’s biggest supplier, Thames Water.
The government, which was elected in July, promised it would force the industry to improve, through, for example, handing the water regulator power to ban bonuses for company bosses.
“This bill is a significant step forward in fixing our broken water system,” environment minister Steve Reed said in a speech at Thames Rowing Club on Thursday.
“It will make sure the water companies are held to account.”
A source in Reed’s department said he was expected to meet investors as soon as next week to seek to attract the billions of pounds of funding needed to clean up Britain’s water.
“By strengthening regulation and enforcing it consistently, we will create the conditions needed in a well regulated private sector model to attract the global investment required to rebuild our broken water infrastructure,” he said.
There has been criticism that water bosses have received bonuses despite sewage pollution rising.
Thames Water’s chief executive Chris Weston was paid a 195,000 pound ($256,620) bonus for three months’ work earlier this year, for example. The company did not immediately respond to a request for comment on Thursday.
Reed said the bill would give the industry’s regulator Ofwat new powers to ban executive bonuses unless water companies met high standards when it came to protecting the environment, their consumers, financial resilience and criminal liability.
The level of investment needed to improve sewers and pipes, and how much customers should contribute in higher bills, has caused disagreement between Ofwat and suppliers.
Under the proposed new legislation, the Environment Agency will have more scope to press criminal charges against executives, plus severe and automatic fines for offences.
Water companies will also be required to introduce independent monitoring of every sewage outlet and companies will need to publish annual pollution reduction plans.
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(Reporting by Sarah Young, Paul Sandle and Catarina Demony;Editing by Tomasz Janowski, Peter Graff)
