Record fines levied on three water companies don’t go far enough and more investment is needed to stop sewage spills and tackle corporate greed, says UNISON today (Tuesday).
Responding to the announcement that industry regulator Ofwat is proposing to punish three privatised water firms with a record combined fine of £168m for their failure to invest and for illegal pollution releases, UNISON head of environment Donna Rowe-Merriman said:
“Ofwat has finally woken up, but these multi-million pound fines may have come too late to make a difference. This record punishment once again exposes the stench of the water companies’ serious failure to act in the public interest.
“These firms have been caught illegally dumping raw sewage across the UK. And all because water bosses chose to pay huge dividends to shareholders over putting much-needed resources into renovating crumbling Victorian infrastructure or cleaning up the UK’s filthy waterways.
“The water companies have had it far too easy for far too long but the tide is beginning to turn. The public will want the new government to take these badly behaving companies to task.
“Put simply, it’s high time the water companies got their act together. It’s not acceptable for firms who’ve been splashing the cash on the wrong things to plead poverty and ask the regulator for permission to hike water bills. Water firms must put customers and water standards before private profit.”
Notes to editors:
– Industry regulator Ofwat has proposed a record combined fine of £168m on three privatised water firms – Thames (£104m), Yorkshire (£47m) and Northumbrian (£14m) – after finding they failed to adequately invest in networks and illegally released raw sewage into waterways.
– Between 1990 and 2023, English water companies paid out £53bn in dividends, meaning they gave almost the same amount to shareholders as their current debt levels. Yet sewage spills into England’s rivers and seas more than doubled last year and every major water company is under investigation by the regulator.
– UNISON is the UK’s largest union with more than 1.3 million members providing public services in education, local government, the NHS, police service and energy. They are employed in the public, voluntary and private sectors.
Media contacts:
Liz Chinchen M: 07778 158175 E: press@unison.co.uk
Mark Conrad M: 07809 623703 E: m.conrad@unison.co.uk
The article Record water fines expose the stench of scandalous sewage failures, says UNISON first appeared on the UNISON National site.
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