Yorkshire Water facing £47m fine over sewage failings

Yorkshire Water is one of three water companies facing a combined fine of £168m for a series of failings following an investigation by regulator Ofwat.

The proposals by Ofwat include a penalty of £104m for Thames Water, while Yorkshire Water faces a £47m fine, and Northumbrian Water will have to pay £17m.

It comes after an investigation found the firms had “routinely released sewage into our rivers and seas, rather than ensuring that this only happens in exceptional circumstances as the law intends”.

Ofwat can fine firms up to 10% of their turnover. The proposed penalties are the equivalent of 9% of Thames Water’s turnover, 7% of Yorkshire Water’s and 5% of Northumbrian Water’s.

The regulator said it would consult on the level of the fines before the companies are ordered to pay up and could potentially reach a settlement with them instead.

Ofwat’s chief executive David Black said: “Ofwat has uncovered a catalogue of failure by Thames Water, Yorkshire Water and Northumbrian Water in how they ran their sewage works and this resulted in excessive spills from storm overflows. Our investigation has shown how they routinely released sewage into our rivers and seas, rather than ensuring that this only happens in exceptional circumstances as the law intends.

“The level of penalties we intend to impose signals both the severity of the failings and our determination to take action to ensure water companies do more to deliver cleaner rivers and seas.

“These companies need to move at pace to put things right and meet their obligations to protect customers and the environment. They also need to transform how they look after the environment and to focus on doing better in the future.

“Looking to the future we want transform companies’ performance under our new price control that starts in April next year, so we reduce spills from sewage overflows by 44 per cent by 2030 compared to 2021 levels.”

A spokesperson at Yorkshire Water said: “We take our responsibility to protect the environment very seriously. Last year, we apologised for not acting quickly enough and announced our £180m programme to reduce discharges from our storm overflows before April 2025.

“We and our customers care deeply about river health and we want to provide reassurance that we have already taken considerable action to improve.”