Ella Jessel

England’s top-rated water firm for environmental performance paid £4.6 million for pollution offences last year, half of the total secured by the government. During the last financial year, the Environment Agency (EA) ordered water firms to pay a record £8.5 million in environmental undertakings for pollution breaches, with Severn Trent paying the most.

Ministers have ordered a water sector watchdog to refund water companies for its dispute resolution service because it had no power to deliver it, Utility Week can reveal. The Consumer Council for Water (CCW), a non-governmental body which champions water consumers, has been providing an alternative dispute resolution (ADR) service…

Thames Water has just enough cash to last the year, but has warned there is “material uncertainty” over its longer-term future. In its annual accounts for 2025-26, the UK’s biggest water company reported it had swung back into the black with pre-tax profits of £226.4 million for the year, against…

New data reveals that less than one fifth of England’s rivers, lakes and canals have achieved “good” ecological state, putting the government’s water quality target out of reach. The Office for Environmental Protection’s chief regulatory officer, said the data is “very worrying” given the already poor state of our country’s precious waterways.