Category Archives: Water industry

Water firms in England and Wales ordered to cut £114m from bills

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Fewer than half of companies meeting their targets on leaks, says the regulator, Ofwat

Water companies in England and Wales have been ordered to return £114m to customers through lower bills next year because progress on leakage and sewage spills has been “too slow”.

In its annual water company performance report, the regulator, Ofwat, said the majority of water and wastewater companies were underperforming on targets set for 2020-25 to deliver better outcomes, for customers and the environment.

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‘When I saw it I was appalled’: row over modern fountain splits Yorkshire town down middle

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Militant pensioner says a majority want a traditional feature but project leaders call row an attack on democracy

Ilkley is an affluent, leafy town, one point of Yorkshire’s “Golden Triangle” where average house prices top £560,000. Last year it was named the best place to live in the UK, and its tree-lined streets hark back to the days when it was a spa town where wealthy Victorians took the waters, Charles Darwin among them.

Now the peace and quiet of this favourite municipality of the middle-classes is being rocked by a row between the, often older, traditionalists in the town and a charitable body of volunteers who were hoping to give it just a flick of a modern makeover. The fight centres on the proposed design of a fountain, to be built at the heart of the town at the junction of its two wide shopping avenues.

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Thérèse Coffey ‘complacent’ in dealing with water companies, peers say

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Underinvestment in infrastructure will have serious consequences for environment and security of water supplies, committee says

Thérèse Coffey has been “complacent” in dealing with water companies, risking water shortages as well as extreme environmental consequences, a House of Lords committee has said.

In a letter to the environment secretary, the peers criticised her department’s “dismissive brevity and complacent tone” in response to their report published earlier this year, which found water companies had been too focused on maximising financial returns at the expense of the environment.

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‘Wyke whiff’ befouls Dorset village – and angry residents have had enough

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People say summer stink has been ‘horrendous’, with blame put on a Wessex Water sewage works

The Dorset village of Wyke Regis has a lot going for it: sunsets across Lyme Bay, views of Chesil Beach’s spectacular pebbly sweep, proximity to great swimming and sailing spots.

But local people are not having a great time of it at the moment because of what has been called the “Wyke whiff”, an unpleasant smell that forces them to keep windows shut tight and ruins the simple pleasure of sitting out in the sunshine.

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Public could receive hundreds of millions as water firms face sewage lawsuit

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Class action legal claim on behalf of 20 million householders in England and Wales could top £800m in compensation

The public could receive hundreds of millions of pounds in compensation in the first class action against water companies which are alleged to have failed to reveal the true scale of raw sewage discharges, and abused their position as privatised monopolies.

A collective case against six water companies alleges they have failed to properly report sewage spills and pollution of rivers and seas to the Environment Agency and Ofwat, the regulator for England and Wales. The first of six parallel claims is against Severn Trent Water on behalf of its 8 million customers. Claims against Thames Water, United Utilities, Anglian Water, Yorkshire Water and Northumbrian Water are being brought in the coming months.

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Sinkhole swallows car after water pipe bursts under Coventry street

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Seven Trent Water technicians working to repair ‘one of our larger pipes’ after car retrieved

A parked car was partially swallowed by a sinkhole that opened up on a Coventry road in the early hours of Monday morning.

The hole opened underneath the vehicle on Sewall Highway after an underground water pipe burst at about 4am, West Midlands police said. The street was closed for most of the day, a cordon was erected around the affected area and cars and buses were diverted.

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