South West Water owner to invest £850m to improve drain and sewer network

The owner of South West Water and Bristol Water says it is making record levels of investment in its drains and sewers.

The investment comes after Pennon was heavily criticised for allowing sewage to flow into the seas around the South West.

The Exeter based company issued a trading statement this morning.

The company said financial performance for the full year remains in line with management expectations.

The recent acquisition of SES Water is progressing through the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) review, as expected.

The company added that it has made record levels of water and wastewater investment with £850m to come in the following year.

Pennon added there had been  a 50% increase in rainfall over the long-term average which impacted headline levels for storm overflows and wastewater pollutions.

There were 78 interventions at storm overflow sites underway to improve water quality at 49 of 151 beaches through our WaterFit programme to 2025.

The programme of work to diversify the group’s portfolio of water resources in Devon is now complete, with 70% of the programme of work in Cornwall also complete.

This has contributed to the early achievement of 90% storage for our strategic reservoirs in the region.