Water companies in England are set to record the highest number of serious pollution incidents in at least a decade as they get the green light to raise customers’ bills, The i Paper can reveal.
Data released under Freedom of Information laws, and shared with The i Paper, found water companies were responsible for 59 serious incidents, such as toxic sewage or chemical spills, in the first six months of this year alone.
The data is preliminary and subject to change following investigations by the Environment Agency (EA). But if pollution continues at this rate, it will make the number of serious incidents more than 50 per cent higher than last year and more than double the amount recorded in 2023.
The revelations come despite promises by the water industry that it is investing in its infrastructure to reduce pollution and reassurances from the Government that it is clamping down on wrongdoing.
Water companies collectively made billions of pounds in profits last year as customers’ bills increased. While some of this profit is reinvested in improving infrastructure, much is also spent on debt interest payments and shareholder dividends. The FOI data does not include a breakdown of incidents per water company.
The data also shows the EA is not attending the majority of serious incidents despite boosting resources to tackle pollution in England’s rivers and seas in recent years.
The regulator downgraded hundreds of serious incidents without attending to them in person during the first six months of 2026, the data shows.
Former EA employee and whistleblower Robert Forrester, who obtained the figures, said the data showed there was “no deterrent” for water companies and that promises by the Government to tackle the sewage scandal were “hollow”.
Record pollution number
When a pollution incident, such as a toxic spill, is reported to the EA, the regulator categorises it on a scale of one to four based on severity.
Category one and two incidents are considered to be the most serious, meaning they cause extensive harm to the environment, human health or reality.
When it comes to water companies, this often means sewage leaks that impact several kilometres of river or result in high mortality fish kills, Forrester said.
As of the end of June this year, the regulator had recorded 59 category one and category two incidents by water companies.
Because this data is preliminary, the agency could change the final categorisation of these incidents. But the numbers already show water companies are on track for a record year of pollution.
The data for 2025 and 2026 may also be slighly higher as the information obtained under FOI includes all 14 water companies in England, while the official pre-2024 figures only include the nine water and sewerage firms.
However, water-only companies have historically been responsible for very few serious pollution incidents, meaning it is unlikely to significantly alter the figures.
‘Utterly shambolic’
The EA has repeatedly said it aims to attend all category one and two incidents in person. However, the data shows it only attended 42 per cent of these incidents in the first half of 2026.
Forrester, who worked for the agency in the North West for over 20 years, said the EA used to attend all serious events.
He said it is “utterly shambolic” that some category one events were going unattended as it means the regulator is not gathering any evidence that could be used in a prosecution.
In the first six months of 2026, 243 incidents that were initially recorded as category one or two were downgraded to category three of four without anyone from the EA witnessing them in person, the data shows.
An EA spokesperson said it was “simply wrong” to describe this as “downgrading” as they said an incident is only reclassified after a lengthy investigation. They added overall attendance at pollution events related to the water industry increased by 75 per cent between 2024/25 and 2025/26.
Forrester said the agency relies on water companies to provide information about an incident if it does not attend in person.
This effectively minimises its role as watchdog, Forrester said: “The water company in effect becomes the regulator and so you rely on what evidence they say, what pictures and samples they give you and then the agency makes a decision: ‘We agree with you; it’s not serious.'”
‘Hollow’ promises
These statistics come despite pledges by the EA and water industry to get a grip on pollution following public outcry over the amount of sewage pouring into our rivers, lakes and seas.
The i Paper’s Save Britain’s Rivers campaign has called on the Government to boost the resources of the EA so it can properly tackle pollution. Ministers provided it with its largest ever budget for water regulation last year.
Voters have backed i’s Save Britain’s Rivers manifestoThe latest data raises serious questions as to why the agency is still failing to attend the majority of serious incidents.
“We’ve chucked a tonne of money at this. We’ve given the biggest ever budget so now there really is no excuse not to be attending,” Forrester said.
A spokesperson for Water UK, which represents water companies, said: “These are initial figures that are expected to change substantially as investigations are conducted – for example, as pollution is traced to organisations other than water companies.
“Nevertheless, there is much more for the water industry to do on pollution which is why we are tripling investment to halve spills from storm overflows and upgrade the capacity of 1,700 wastewater treatment works.”
An EA spokesperson said: “We have increased our attendance at serious incidents and final classifications are made only after full investigation and expert review.
“We have fundamentally strengthened our approach to water company regulation in recent years and will not hesitate to prosecute water companies which break the law, concluding over 70 prosecutions and securing £158 million in fines since 2015.”
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