![]() It states there must be no delay in taking enforcement action.īut the EA audit in 2016 of United Utilities’ self-monitoring identified a lack of independence between the monitoring and asset management teams as a minor non-conformity. For example, a lack of independence between the company’s monitoring teams and those who manage the assets is considered a major non-conformity, according to internal EA guidance. The annual audits of operator self monitoring are supposed to identify where companies are in breach of their permits to operate, and rate any breaches as major non-conformity or minor non-conformity. The EA budget was more than halved by the Conservative Government over a decade and staff have complained they cannot do their jobs properly as a result. Smith said: “Allowing water companies that have powerful financial incentives to exaggerate performance to monitor themselves was a massive risk that needed effective measures to ensure integrity both within the companies and the Environment Agency, which is clearly highly vulnerable to corruption in many ways.” But the FoI data indicates that the last audit of its operator self-monitoring by the EA was in 2017. United Utilities is held up as an above-average, industry-leading water firm and consistently given the top three- and four-star ratings for environmental performance. The EA audits contribute to the star rating they are given for environmental performance by the watchdog and inform the industry regulator Ofwat on issues of price review, penalties and rewards. ![]() We audit the data … with those appropriate checks and balances, operator self-monitoring is a good thing.” “We require them to self-report if they do other things out of kilter with their permit … we check this data, so we do not just take it literally. “We require water companies to monitor and report on a whole bunch of things, including effluent quality and the storm overflow data that you have rightly raised, and to tell us whenever they cause a pollution incident. What we do have is a system called operator self-monitoring … “On marking their own homework, we do not let water companies do that. ![]() Accused of allowing the companies to “mark their own homework” with operator self-monitoring, Bevan indicated the checks by the EA were robust. The data contrasts with evidence given to MPs by James Bevan, then chief executive of the EA, in March. However, South West Water disputes the data, saying its most recent audits took place in 20. The revelations come as the environmental watchdog said ministers and the regulators may have broken the law by failing to stem the flow of raw sewage discharges into rivers and seas by water companies.Īudits on Southern Water, which was fined a record £90m in 2021 for dumping billions of litres of raw sewage into the sea from its treatment works, do not appear to have taken place since 2013, according to the data.Īudits for South West Water, which has one of the worst records for pollution, are missing for eight of the past 13 years, according to the data. The data shows 42 audits are missing out of the 117 that should have been produced from annual inspections of the nine water and sewerage companies since 2010. The checks are to ensure that water companies are abiding by the permits that control how they operate, that they are not illegally dumping raw sewage and that they are honestly recording how much effluent they treat and the quality of the treatment.Īccording to the FoI data, 36% of audits over the past 13 years were not carried out or are inexplicably missing from records. “Serious failure has been allowed to continue in the water industry and the regulator for many years.”Įver since 2010 when the law changed to allow the privatised water industry to self-report on its operations – known as “operator self-monitoring” – the EA is supposed to audit companies each year to make sure they are accurately recording how their treatment works operate. “The agency has failed to do its job,” said Ashley Smith of the campaign group Windrush Against Sewage Pollution (WASP), which unearthed the FoI data seen by the Guardian.
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