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Water companies apologise for sewage spill issues, promise £10bn of investment

Published: 03:21 18 May 2023 EDT

Pennon Group PLC -

UK water companies have apologised for sewage spills into rivers and the seaside and promised to more than triple current levels of investment to £10bn for sewer improvements, though they want customers to pay for it.

Industry group Water UK said that the water companies, which include FTSE-listed trio Pennon Group PLC (LSE:PNN, OTC:PEGRY)Severn Trent PLC (LSE:SVT) and United Utilities Group PLC (LSE:UU.), were sorry for "not acting quickly enough" to solve problems such as the thousands of hours of untreated sewage released into waterways over recent years.

Public anger has come to a boiling point on the issue, with criticism of the industry, regulators and government, as figures showed there were 301,091 sewage spills last year, averaging 824 a day.

United Utilities was responsible for more than 69,000 spills over 425,000 hours, while Severn Trent was responsible for 44,700 spillages, and Pennon subsidiary South West Water for 37,649.

It was reported in the Guardian newspaper that while shareholders in the water companies will initially fund the investments, the costs will be recouped from customers through increases in their bills.

In their statement, the water industry group said the accelerated investment would "aim" to install more storage capacity to hold surges in rainwater and try to prevent sewage overflows, while also increasing the capacity of sewage treatment works to allow them to treat higher volumes of rainfall and sewage, and improving the sewer network with new, larger pipes.  

Some nature-friendly solutions were also proposed, including replacing concrete with "grass and ponds to reduce rainfall run-off entering sewers", with a pledge to treat overflow spills so they have much less impact on the river, including through reed beds and wetlands. 

If the first wave of investment through to 2030 is approved by regulators, the industry said it will "aim to cut sewage overflows by up to 140,000 each year compared to the level in 2020". 

“More should have been done to address the issue of spillages sooner and the public is right to be upset about the current quality of our rivers and beaches,” said Water UK chair Ruth Kelly. “We have listened and have an unprecedented plan to start to put it right.”

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