England’s drinking water regulator is seeking new powers to fine water companies directly as public concerns grow over the maintenance and inspection of critical infrastructure.
In order to impose fines for failing water quality, the Drinking Water Inspectorate currently has to apply to the courts. Since 2017, there have been only six criminal convictions.
However, the regulator told the Financial Times that it was in discussions with the UK government to extend its powers so that fines could be issued directly “as another tool in our regulatory approach”.
The request comes as the number of cases involving water quality recorded by the inspection agency increased by 8.5%, from 433 in 2021 to 470 in 2022.
Water quality problems can be caused by old infrastructure, such as cracked or poorly maintained pipes or tanks and the buildup of metal. However, the majority of convictions since 2017 involved improper handling, disinfection or provision of water “unfit for human consumption”.
The inspectorate said the amount of fines had been increasing, with the average fine for the six cases being around £210,000, an increase of almost 10 times from 2000 to 2017.
Although there were 458 incidents in the five years between 2017 and 2021 of consumers receiving discolored water, the number of court cases has been low.
Instead of issuing fines, the DWI issued 36 “legal documents” to eight companies, requiring remedial measures such as replacing old pipes or rebuilding entire water treatment plants. These can take several years.
Lib Dem environment spokesman Peter Fallon said water companies “are getting away with being punished for dirty drinking water”.
“We have reached a point where we need a new regulator that has real strength and a range of legal powers.”
The DWI said it was “inaccurate to suggest that dirty drinking water is widely available to consumers in England and Wales”.
It added: “England and Wales provide some of the best water quality in the world and appropriate measures must be taken when brief discolouration occurs.”
Experts say discoloration is usually caused by corrosion of metal in old main pipes or water containing metals passing through treatment plants, and most incidents do not pose a risk to human health. But the DWI still advises people who receive discolored water to “seek advice from their water company before drinking it and not to assume it is safe”.
Ludovica Gazze, an economist at the University of Warwick and an expert on drinking water contamination, said: “The discoloration itself is not a problem, but should be a warning sign that triggers further investigation. If an investigation is not carried out and/or contamination is found, then enforcement will be needed.”
Gaze said the discoloration is a symptom of the water crisis in Flint, Michigan. “After residents complained, they discovered that due to changes in water sources and treatment methods, the water became more corrosive, causing the water to be contaminated with lead particles.”
Of the 470 water quality incidents that occurred in 2022, 63 were directly attributed to asset conditions and plant failures. According to the DWI, there were also 11 disinfection system failures, six power supply failures and eight water tank and reservoir structural failures. Five of the cases involved water outages.
The DWI said there were “problems” with most of the assets audited last year, including water treatment plants, storage reservoirs and water tanks.
Drinking water tanks, which are usually buried underground or on top of mountains, should be inspected at least every 10 years, but 11 of the 17 water suppliers failed to do this within this period.
The DWI said this “presents a significant potential risk to the health of the water contained within”. “If assets are not regularly inspected and maintained, the risk increases significantly.”
Ofwat, the industry’s economic watchdog, said in a report published on Tuesday that the companies’ water main renewal rate of 0.1% was “unsustainably low”. The company “did not make adequate replacements to deal with the deteriorating condition,” the report added.
Last September, South West Water received one of the largest fines of £300,000 after it supplied water to households that was unfit for human consumption for nearly two months in 2018. It means that discolored water has an “earthy” or “musty” smell. . At that time, South West Water Company advised people to “add a slice of lemon” to their water supply.
South West Water, which supplies water to Cornwall and Devon, has apologized for an incident caused by an algae bloom in a reservoir. “We acknowledge that unpalatable water, even if it is safe to drink, is absolutely unacceptable,” it said.
The DWI is an independent inspector within Defra, the environment department. Its budget increased by 51% between 2017 and 2022, from £2.9 million to £4.5 million.
A Defra spokesman said England had some of the safest drinking water in the world and regular sampling was carried out to ensure it stayed that way.
“We have not wasted time setting up a new regulator, but are delivering more investment, stronger regulation and tougher enforcement. This includes increasing Ofwat’s powers and funding and creating unlimited penalties.”
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