Water companies in the UK and Wales have experienced almost five significant sewage spills into rivers or seas every day over the last ten years, according to a report by The Observer.

Data by the UK's Environment Agency reveals that between 2013 and 2022, the 10 water companies reported a total of 19,484 pollution incidents categorized as level 1 to 3, occurring approximately once every four and a half hours.

Critics have condemned the water industry for causing extensive pollution in rivers and seas, describing it as catastrophic, while the Labour Party accused the government of neglect and failing to address the crisis. 

The most problematic company in the Environmental Performance Assessments review was Thames Water, reporting approximately 3,568 incidents during that period - followed by Southern Water with 2,747 incidents, Severn Trent with 2,712, and Anglian Water with 2,572.

The majority were classified as category 3.

Although from 2020 to 2022 there were reportedly 931 pollution incidents in the north-west of England, the Environment Agency responded to only six of them.

Last year, a BBC probe conducted on United Utilities found that it had falsely downgraded the severity of its own sewage spills to lower categories to prevent scrutiny from the Environment Agency.

Read more: Raw sewage, farming pollution blight 90% of England’s rivers

Tories 'looked the other way'

Labour’s shadow environment secretary, Steve Reed, relayed to the Observer that the Tories government had “just folded their arms and looked the other way while water companies pumped a tidal wave of raw sewage into our rivers, lakes and seas”. He added that if Labour is elected, it would give regulators the power to ban bonus payments and even levy criminal charges for “law-breaking water bosses”.

The Liberal Democrats’ environment spokesperson, Tim Farron, claims the crisis is a “national scandal which has gotten worse and worse under the Conservatives’ watch”.

“The Conservatives’ record is one of rising sewage levels and water firms stuffing their pockets with cash,” he noted, adding, “The Liberal Democrats have led the campaign against sewage, with plans for a new water regulator, an end to disgraceful bonuses and profits, and new sewage inspectors.”

Despite the growing scrutiny of the industry in recent years, the pay packets for its leadership have remained high, with the nine chief executives of UK water companies receiving more than £25m in bonuses and incentives since the last general election. That has included bonuses awarded for hitting environmental and sustainability targets.

Giles Bristow, the chief executive of Surfers Against Sewage, who have been protesting against the crisis, says, “This is further evidence of what we’ve all long suspected: water companies are polluting our rivers and seas at a catastrophic scale, each and every day.”

“These companies are brazen in their lack of regard for the law and have been allowed to pollute with barely more than a slap on the wrist,” Bristow added. 

A Conservative spokesperson claimed water companies “introduced unprecedented levels of transparency with 100% monitoring, and applied the largest ever fines to law-breaking water companies”.

A spokesperson for Water UK, the firm that represents water companies, claimed the number of incidents has dropped in the last decade, and claimed it plans to invest £100bn once it receives the green light from the regulator, Ofwat.