Research and analysis

Water and sewerage companies in England: environmental performance report for 2024

Published 23 October 2025

Applies to England

A summary of the environmental performance of the 9 water and sewerage companies operating in England.

1. Chair’s foreword

I write this foreword at a time when we have access to more data than ever before, providing a clearer and deeper understanding of the environmental performance of the water and sewerage companies operating in England.

This year’s results are poor. The 9 companies collectively achieved a total of 19 stars, down from 25 in 2023 and the lowest since the EPA process began in 2011. Only a single company – Severn Trent Water – achieved 4 star status. Many companies tell us how focussed they are on environmental improvement. But the results are not visible in the data.

This does not mean that performance has declined since 2011 when we started this annual report. We have tightened the criteria in many ways since then to meet rising expectations for performance. But the 2024 results bring to an end a steady trend of improvement based on consistent criteria for star ratings 2011 to 2024.

Of particular concern is the continued rise in numbers of pollution incidents in recent years, a trend that has become particularly pronounced in 2024. Serious pollution incidents, those causing significant environmental harm, have increased by 60% this year alone. Thames Water, Southern Water and Yorkshire Water were responsible for 81% of these serious incidents. In sharp contrast Northumbrian Water and Wessex Water recorded none. Water companies must address the root causes of these pollution incidents through their pollution incident reduction plans, so they deliver long lasting improvements. 

So, what caused this serious decline in 2024? We can identify three factors. First, it was undoubtedly a very wet and stormy year which does put extra pressure on water company assets. This is never an excuse, but it is undeniably a factor. That said, the public rightly expect water company assets to be resilient to changing weather conditions. Second, the long-standing issues with underinvestment and poor maintenance of assets continue to impact on performance. And third, it seems that increased monitoring, inspection and awareness of the issues is bringing more failings to light. In the long run, this unprecedented transparency can only be a good thing.

A fundamental shift in culture and behaviour across the sector is urgently needed. I am pleased to see the continued rise in sector self-reporting of incidents, which reached 85% this year. Most companies are demonstrating an increased understanding of their networks and greater transparency of reporting. Water companies must take full ownership of their performance, and they have been funded to do so, with a record £98 billion allocated in England for 2025 to 2030 under the price review set out by our colleagues at Ofwat. This investment must deliver lasting benefits for people and the environment.

This is a critical time in water regulation as we respond to the Independent Water Commission recommendations. We think the integration of economic and environmental planning could deliver a better regulatory system in the future. We are working closely with other regulators to explore more integrated and streamlined reporting for the sector as part of a reset for water regulation. And we are building the capability to hold the companies to account with over 10,000 inspections planned for next year.

But even as we overhaul and improve regulation, it is the water industry itself that must turn around this position. The data is clear, the public expectation is high, and the funding is in place. What is needed now is bold leadership, a shift in mindset, and a relentless focus on delivery. Every water company must rise to this challenge. We will support them however we can but will continue to robustly challenge them when they fall short. And like many of those reading this, I expect to see signs of that improvement over the next few years.

Alan Lovell, Chair of the Environment Agency

2. Performance facts for 2024

This report is about the 9 water and sewerage companies (called water companies within this report) that provide clean drinking water (water supply) and wastewater (sewerage) services. Water supply only companies, and companies providing local water supply and sewerage services are not covered in this report. This report includes our Environmental Performance Assessment (EPA) for several core requirements as well as broader assessments of other aspects of environmental performance in 2024.

For 2024, the main performance facts for the sector are that:

• 1 water company is rated as poor performing (1 star) in our EPA, 7 water companies are rated as requiring improvement (2 stars) and only 1 is rated 4 stars (our maximum rating) – all water companies should be able to achieve 4 stars
• the EPA ratings have declined to 19 stars compared to 25 in 2023 (out of a maximum of 36) – this is disappointing following some previous progress since the EPA began in 2011
• water companies moved further away from meeting their EPA targets with an increase in red metric status (significantly below target) – the majority for total and serious incidents
• the number of serious pollution incidents (category 1 and 2) significantly increased by 60% to 75 with the majority from 3 water companies – for the EPA metric 5 water companies performed significantly below target (red)
• total pollution incidents from sewerage and water supply assets (category 1 to 3) increased significantly to 2,801 – the third consecutive annual increase and highest number since 2011
• total pollution incidents from sewerage assets increased to 2,469 – 7 performed significantly below target (red) and for the second consecutive year no water company achieved our EPA target (green)
• self-reporting of all pollution incidents by water companies was 85%, and 92% for just pumping stations (PS) and sewage treatment works (STW) combined – this was the best since the EPA began however 4 water companies performed below target (amber)
• 98.8% of STW and water treatment works (WTW) were compliant with numeric permit conditions for discharging treated wastewater – only 3 water companies achieved target (green) and overall the sector is not improving
• 99.89% of sewage sludge produced met the requirements of the satisfactory sludge use and disposal metric – all water companies performed better than target (green)
• for the Water Industry National Environment Programme (WINEP) EPA metric 97.0% of planned environmental improvement schemes were completed – 6 water companies failed to meet all requirements within planned deadlines
• for the Supply Demand Balance Index (SDBI) EPA metric 1 water company (Northumbrian Water) performed below target (amber)

3. Environmental Performance Assessment (EPA)

3.1 EPA for 2024

We introduced the EPA in 2011 as a tool for comparing performance between water companies and across years for several core requirements. Please see our EPA metric guide for more information on our regulation and how we set targets for water companies. It includes our definition of red, amber and green status and thresholds for each metric, and our star ratings for performance across all metrics. For 2024 the 7 EPA metrics are:

• total pollution incidents (sewerage assets only)
• serious pollution incidents (sewerage and water supply assets)
• self-reporting of pollution incidents (sewerage and water supply assets)
• discharge permit compliance (STW and WTW numeric water quality limits for treated wastewater only)
• delivery of the WINEP
• satisfactory sludge use and disposal
• SDBI

Every 5 years we review the EPA to align with the 5 year Asset Management Plan (AMP) investment cycles for water companies. For 2021 to 2025 we have revised metric definitions and deliberately tightened metric thresholds. We consulted with the water companies and stakeholders and released a revised EPA methodology for this period. This describes our updated reporting approach and EPA for use for 2021 to 2025 data reporting. For 2024 the total pollution incident metric thresholds have been tightened as part of the 5 year glidepath.

Please see the EPA results 2011 to 2024. For 2024, one water company is rated as poor performing, 1 star (Thames Water). Seven water companies are rated as requiring improvement, 2 stars (Anglian Water, Northumbrian Water, Southern Water, South West Water, United Utilities, Wessex Water and Yorkshire Water). One water company achieved our industry leading rating of 4 stars (Severn Trent Water).

Ofwat (the economic regulator of water companies) is using 2 of our EPA metrics as common performance commitments (CPCs) for 2020 to 2025. Total pollution incidents and discharge permit compliance performance may have financial consequences for water companies.

3.2 EPA for 2021 to 2025

The aim of the EPA is to highlight where improvement in water company performance is required. We are pushing for continuous improvement in standards across the sector and to make sure that statutory obligations and our performance expectations are met.

During this 5 year EPA period (2021 to 2025) we are ranking water companies based on cumulative star ratings (Table 1). This highlights water company progress towards achieving industry leading performance (4 stars) and identifies water companies that have been able to sustain this. In 2024 Severn Trent Water has again shown that sustained leading performance is possible in the EPA. They are the only water company to consistently achieve 4 stars in all of the last 6 years. However, 8 of the 9 water companies were rated poor or requiring improvement, 4 of them consistently in all of the last 4 years.

The total number of stars that the sector achieved in 2024 is the lowest for this EPA period so far – only 19 stars out of a maximum of 36. This is also the lowest number of stars since the EPA began in 2011, due to declining performance in some areas but also due to our tighter standards. Between 2011 and 2024 we have progressively updated and tightened EPA metrics to reflect environmental expectations. To review if there have been performance improvements over time, we have re-assessed all previous years of EPA data using the 2024 methodology. The results (star ratings 2011 to 2024) show some progress with EPA performance up to 2023 but in 2024 the sector has declined.

Table 1. Ranked cumulative EPA performance star ratings for the 9 water and sewerage companies 2021 to 2025 – each year a maximum of 4 stars

Water company	2021 (year 1)	2022 (year 2)	2023 (year 3)	2024 (year 4)	2025 (year 5)	Total
Severn Trent Water	4 stars	4 stars	4 stars	4 stars	no data	16 stars
United Utilities	4 stars	3 stars	4 stars	2 stars	no data	13 stars
Northumbrian Water	4 stars	3 stars	3 stars	2 stars	no data	12 stars
Wessex Water	2 stars	2 stars	4 stars	2 stars	no data	10 stars
Yorkshire Water	2 stars	3 stars	2 stars	2 stars	no data	9 stars
Anglian Water	2 stars	2 stars	2 stars	2 stars	no data	8 stars
Southern Water	1 star	2 stars	2 stars	2 stars	no data	7 stars
South West Water	1 star	2 stars	2 stars	2 stars	no data	7 stars
Thames Water	2 stars	2 stars	2 stars	1 star	no data	7 stars
Sector	22 stars	23 stars	25 stars	19 stars	no data	89 stars

For historic results please see our Environmental Performance Assessment results 2011 to 2024 and Environmental Performance Assessment star ratings 2011 to 2024. Water company specific reports with data for 2011 to 2024 are also available.

3.3 Performance expectations (2020 to 2025)

In October 2017 we set out our performance expectations for 2020 to 2025 (Water Industry Strategic Environmental Requirements, WISER) describing environmental, resilience and flood risk obligations. Water companies were required to take these into account when developing their business plans for the AMP7 period 2020 to 2025.

We have the following expectations of water companies that are directly relevant to the EPA:

• trend to minimise all pollution incidents (category 1 to 3) by 2025 – there should be at least a 40% reduction compared to numbers of incidents recorded in 2016
• serious pollution incidents must trend towards zero
• a plan in place to achieve 100% compliance for all licences and permits and 100% compliance with all look-up table conditions (where a limit cannot be exceeded more than a specified number of times in a 12 month period)
• high levels of self-reporting of pollution incidents with at least 80% of incidents self-reported by 2025 and more than 90% of incidents self-reported for just STW and PS combined
• business plans include all measures identified within the WINEP and these are planned well and completed to agreed timescales and specification
• assess resilience of their water supply system to predicted droughts and other non-drought water supply hazards
• manage sewage sludge treatment and re-use so as not to cause pollution to land, surface water or groundwater

Most water companies translated our expectations into actions within their 2020 to 2025 business plans. Ofwat approved funding to deliver them as part of the 2019 price review (PR19) final determination.  

We expect water companies to be open and honest with us. They must take ownership of their performance issues to ensure our WISER performance expectations and EPA targets are met. In some cases the culture within water companies affects how they engage with us including excessive challenge of our regulatory decisions.

4. Pollution incident performance

Pollution incidents lead to the release of harmful substances into air, land or water, and some can cause significant harm to the environment. We categorise all incidents based on their impact. Incidents are assessed as having a major (category 1), significant (category 2), or minor (category 3) impact on the water environment. Please see our EPA metric guide for more information.

We remain concerned about the high number of pollution incidents. This was highlighted in our pollution incident report for 2016 to 2024 (published 18 July 2025). You can find details of how we are taking action with the water companies in section 11 of this report (regulatory interventions). 

Water companies must manage their drainage and wastewater systems so that they do not pollute. Their pollution incident reduction plans (PIRPs), which will be statutory from April 2026, must have actions to reduce the severity and frequency of pollution incidents. Maintaining assets to be in good operational condition is a basic requirement which companies should ensure is adequately funded. This includes being prepared for the effects of climate change and ensuring that assets are robust and resilient to extreme weather.

Storm overflows are a necessary part of the current sewerage system. They are designed to discharge storm sewage (wastewater diluted with rainwater) to rivers or the sea at times of rainfall or snow melt. This is to prevent storm sewage backing up into homes and flooding streets. If they are operating outside of these circumstances, they are deemed non-compliant with their permit, and they will be reported and recorded as pollution incidents. Monitoring of storm overflows has increased to capture information on how they are operating. This is covered in section 7.2 of this report (Event Duration Monitoring, EDM, of storm overflows).

4.1 Serious pollution incidents

The number of serious water quality pollution incidents (category 1 and 2) from sewerage and water supply assets for the sector continues to be unacceptable (Figure 1). This is contrary to our performance expectation to trend towards zero. This expectation was first set out to water companies in 2013 (for the AMP6 period 2015 to 2020). It was repeated in WISER (issued in 2017) for the period 2020 to 2025.

In 2024: 

• there were 75 serious pollution incidents – this is a significant increase (60%) from 47 in 2023, following 44 in 2022 and 62 in 2021
• the majority of serious pollution incidents (61 of the 75, 81%) were from 3 water companies (Thames Water – 33, Southern Water – 15 and Yorkshire Water – 13) – Thames Water had the highest number, more than double since 2023
• numbers increased for 6 water companies compared to 2023 (Severn Trent Water, Southern Water, South West Water, Thames Water, United Utilities and Yorkshire Water)
• 2 water companies had fewer incidents compared to 2023 (Anglian Water and Wessex Water) – Northumbrian Water and Wessex Water had zero serious pollution incidents, Northumbrian Water for the third consecutive year
• there is a continuing polarised performance picture that is preventing the sector achieving our performance expectation and their commitment to trend to zero
• 5 water companies performed significantly below target (red) for this EPA metric (Anglian Water, Southern Water, South West Water, Thames Water and Yorkshire Water)
• 4 water companies achieved target or better (green) for this EPA metric – of these Northumbrian Water and United Utilities have been consistently green in this EPA period so far (since 2021)
• the majority of serious pollution incidents continue to be from foul sewers (22) followed by STW (20), rising mains (15) and PS (11) – representing 68 out of the 75 (91%) with numbers from these asset types having increased compared to 2023
• there were 4 serious pollution incidents from the water supply assets of 2 companies (United Utilities – 1 and Yorkshire Water – 3) – 7 companies had zero
• for the most serious (category 1) pollution incidents there were 11 from 5 water companies – 7 from Thames Water and 1 each from Anglian Water, Southern Water, United Utilities and Yorkshire Water

Figure 1. Number of serious pollution incidents (category 1 and 2) from sewerage and water supply assets, and trend for the 9 water and sewerage companies 2011 to 2024

Chart note: a statistical assessment (using the Pearson correlation coefficient) has been applied to annual data – this identifies the years 2011 and 2013 to be significantly higher than the average for the data period 2011 to 2024.

Table 2. Number of serious pollution incidents (category 1 and 2) from sewerage and water supply assets, and 3 year moving average for the 9 water and sewerage companies 2011 to 2024

Year	Sector total	Sector trend (3 year moving average)
2011	115	-
2012	60	87.7
2013	88	69.7
2014	61	69.3
2015	59	59.0
2016	57	56.0
2017	52	55.0
2018	56	53.3
2019	52	50.7
2020	44	52.7
2021	62	50.0
2022	44	51.0
2023	47	55.3
2024	75	-

Table note: 3 year moving averages are presented for the middle year of each 3 years. The years 2011 and 2024 are included in calculations but do not have averages presented in the table as they are not middle years.

4.2 Total pollution incidents

The total number of water quality pollution incidents from sewerage and water supply assets rose sharply in 2024 continuing the increasing trend of recent years (Figure 2). This is unacceptable as the sector should be progressing towards our WISER performance expectation for the period 2020 to 2025. Water companies must show a trend to minimise pollution incidents with at least a 40% reduction compared to the number of incidents (1,902) in 2016.

In 2024:

• there were 2,801 incidents from sewerage and water supply assets, a significant increase (29%) from 2,174 in 2023 – the third consecutive annual increase and highest number recorded since 2011
• most incidents (88%) were from sewerage assets – the majority from foul sewers (865) followed by PS (693), STW (647) and rising mains (176)
• there were 332 incidents from water supply assets, an increase (22%) from 272 in 2023 – most were from the water distribution system (307)
• Thames Water had the most incidents (523) followed by Anglian Water (482), United Utilities (376), Southern Water (332), Severn Trent Water (300) and Wessex Water (248)

Figure 2. Number of pollution incidents (category 1 to 3) from sewerage and water supply assets, and trend for the 9 water and sewerage companies 2011 to 2024

Chart note: a statistical assessment (using the Pearson correlation coefficient) has been applied to annual data – this identifies the years 2011 to 2014 and 2024 to be significantly higher than the average for the data period 2011 to 2024.

Table 3. Number of pollution incidents (category 1 to 3) from sewerage and water supply assets, and 3 year moving average for the 9 water and sewerage companies 2011 to 2024

Year	Sector total	Sector trend (3 year moving average)
2011	2,660	-
2012	2,776	2,725
2013	2,738	2,624
2014	2,358	2,279
2015	1,742	2,001
2016	1,902	1,824
2017	1,827	1,864
2018	1,863	1,965
2019	2,204	1,995
2020	1,919	2,002
2021	1,883	1,943
2022	2,026	2,028
2023	2,174	2,334
2024	2,801	-

Table note: 3 year moving averages are presented for the middle year of each 3 years. The years 2011 and 2024 are included in calculations but do not have averages presented in the table as they are not middle years.

Our EPA metric assesses the total number of water quality pollution incidents from water company sewerage assets. Due to variation in company size we normalise the number of sewerage pollution incidents per 10,000km of sewer length for which a water company is responsible.

In 2024:

• there were 2,469 sewerage pollution incidents, compared to 1,902 in 2023 – this is the worst performance since 2013 with 8 water companies having an increase compared to the previous year
• no water company achieved our EPA target (green) for the second consecutive year
• the majority of water companies (7 out of 9) performed significantly below target (red) for this EPA metric – Anglian Water for the second year in a row, Southern Water for the sixth year in a row and South West Water for all 14 EPA reported years
• 4 water companies were red for the first time since the EPA was introduced in 2011 – Northumbrian Water, Thames Water, United Utilities and Wessex Water
• 2 water companies performed below target (amber) for this EPA metric
• if all water companies had achieved green EPA status in this metric there would have been at least 1,386 fewer sewerage pollution incidents and less environmental harm
• South West Water performed the worst (with 108 incidents per 10,000km sewer)

4.3 Self-reporting of incidents

We expect water companies to report pollution incidents to us in a timely way before others do, particularly as technology is making remote monitoring more viable. Without a rapid response, the impact of pollution can escalate and the opportunity for mitigation measures can be lost. There is a growing expectation that companies should be more open with their data to improve transparency and trust. In recent years we have seen some water companies achieve the high levels of self-reporting of pollution incidents as required by our WISER expectation. We expect all water companies to achieve and maintain this in future years. We also assess the self-reporting percentage for incidents from just STW and PS combined. We expect higher self-reporting for incidents from these permitted assets. They normally have alarms or staff on site so there is a greater chance of an incident being reported first by water companies.

In 2024:

• for the EPA metric, 85% of all recorded incidents were self-reported by water companies, the best performance since the start of the EPA – a small improvement on previous years (84% in 2023, 82% in 2022 and 77% in 2021)
• the sector achieved 92% for all incidents from just PS and STW combined, compared to 93% in 2023 – we expect higher self-reporting from these permitted assets as they normally have alarms or staff on site
• Severn Trent Water was the only company to achieve 100% for all incidents from just PS and STW combined
• 5 water companies performed better than target (green) for the EPA metric – of these Northumbrian Water, Severn Trent Water and Wessex Water have been consistently green in this EPA period so far (since 2021)
• 4 water companies performed below target (amber) for the EPA metric – Southern Water, South West Water, Thames Water and Yorkshire Water
• most incidents were from foul sewers and self-reporting from this asset type is far too low (73%) – this is a concern that companies must address
• 63% (47 out of 75) of serious pollution incidents (category 1 and category 2) were self-reported by the water companies, a decline from 74% in 2023 – given the environmental impact of these incidents we want to see significant improvement

Figure 3. Percentage self-reporting of pollution incidents (category 1 to 3) from sewerage and water supply assets, and trend for the 9 water and sewerage companies 2011 to 2024

Table 4. Percentage self-reporting of pollution incidents (category 1 to 3) from sewerage and water supply assets, and 3 year moving average for the 9 water and sewerage companies 2011 to 2024

Year	Sector average	Sector trend (3 year moving average)
2011	66	-
2012	67	66.6
2013	66	66.4
2014	66	66.9
2015	69	68.7
2016	72	72.1
2017	76	74.5
2018	76	77.2
2019	80	77.7
2020	77	78.1
2021	77	78.8
2022	82	81.0
2023	84	83.7
2024	85	-

Table note: 3 year moving averages are presented for the middle year of each 3 years. The years 2011 and 2024 are included in calculations but do not have averages presented in the table as they are not middle years.

5. Compliance with licences and permits

All water companies have licences and permits and are required to comply with them at all times. We set conditions to control the impact that licensed and permitted activities are allowed to have, based on the nature and sensitivity of the receiving environment. Water companies must comply with these conditions to reduce their impact and protect the water environment. You can find details of how we are taking action with the water companies in section 11 of this report (regulatory interventions).

The EPA includes assessment of compliance with numeric permit conditions to discharge treated wastewater from STW and WTW (not storm overflows). We are expanding the EPA for 2026 to 2030 data reporting to cover more aspects of water company permit compliance.

The increased monitoring of storm overflows is covered in section 7.2 of this report (EDM of storm overflows). This will allow us to further assess and report on compliance of the wider sewerage network in the future.

5.1 Discharge permit compliance (numeric)

This section is about water company compliance with permits to discharge treated wastewater from STW and WTW (not storm overflows). It is a statutory obligation to comply with permits. As part of the EPA we assess compliance with conditions in these permits that set numeric limits for pollutants in the discharges. We set limits to prevent discharges causing environmental harm or pollution.

Compliance for the sector is still not improving (Figure 4). Our WISER performance expectation for 2020 to 2025 sets out that water companies should have a plan in place to achieve 100% compliance.

In 2024:

• 98.8% of STW and WTW were compliant, the same as 2023 – sector compliance shows no improvement in recent years
• out of 3,798 STW and WTW permitted discharge outlets there were 45 non-compliant sites – the same as 2023 (compared to 38 in 2022 and 49 in 2021)
• no water company achieved 100% compliance with their permits for the third consecutive year
• Northumbrian Water performed significantly below target (red) with 5 water companies performing below target (amber)
• 3 water companies achieved target (green) for this EPA metric – of these Severn Trent Water and Wessex Water have been consistently green in this EPA period so far (since 2021)
• there would have been at least 16 fewer non-compliant sites if all water companies had achieved green EPA status

Figure 4. Number of STW (and from 2016 including WTW) failing discharge permit numeric limits and trend for the 9 water and sewerage companies 2011 to 2024

Chart note: a statistical assessment (using the Pearson correlation coefficient) has been applied to annual data – this identifies the years 2011 and 2013 to be significantly higher than the average for the data period 2011 to 2024.

Table 5. Number of STW (and from 2016 including WTW) failing discharge permit numeric limits and 3 year moving average for the 9 water and sewerage companies 2011 to 2024

Year	Sector total	Sector trend (3 year moving average)
2011	96	-
2012	59	81.7
2013	90	63.0
2014	40	58.7
2015	46	46.7
2016	54	51.0
2017	53	53.0
2018	52	51.3
2019	49	44.0
2020	31	43.0
2021	49	39.3
2022	38	44.0
2023	45	42.7
2024	45	-

Table note: 3 year moving averages are presented for the middle year of each 3 years. The years 2011 and 2024 are included in calculations but do not have averages presented in the table as they are not middle years.

As with wastewater from STW, adequate treatment of discharges from WTW is essential to make sure water companies do not pollute the receiving environment.

In 2024:

• 97.8% of WTW permitted discharge outlets were compliant, the same as 2023 –percentage compliance for WTW remains lower than STW (98.9%) and requires further improvement
• out of 272 WTW permitted discharge outlets, 6 WTW were non-compliant, the same as 2023, the joint lowest number since WTW were included in the EPA from 2016

5.2 Abstraction and impounding licence compliance

Water companies hold abstraction and impounding licences that allow them to abstract water from the environment or impound water.

In 2024, across all licence conditions, we have so far identified:

• 167 compliance breaches across 103 (8%) licences out of a total of 1,213 licences held by the water companies
• 38% of breaches were for abstraction meter issues, such as not calibrating an abstraction meter – we expect water companies to install and maintain accurate water abstraction meters
• 25% of breaches were for over abstraction – we expect water companies to fully comply with their abstraction limits
• 19% of breaches were for compensation flow failures (for example, water released from reservoirs) – we expect water companies to consistently maintain required compensation flows

Compliance figures in previous publications are not directly comparable as they were based on partial data available in time for publication, and a subset of compliance breaches.

We are developing an abstraction and impounding metric which we plan to include in the EPA during the period 2026 to 2030.

5.3 Waste permit compliance

Water companies operate various types of regulated facilities for waste management under the Environmental Permitting (England and Wales) Regulations (EPR). These include sewage sludge anaerobic digestion, waste transfer stations, discharge of waste into wastewater treatment works, sludge incineration and landfill. For permitted activities we assess compliance and give a compliance band of between A or B (good) to F (poor). For sites in compliance bands C and D the operator must improve to achieve full compliance and sites in bands E and F must significantly improve.

In 2024, out of 369 permitted operations:

• 2 were assessed as band E (1 operated by Anglian Water and 1 by Thames Water) – this is a reduction in band E performers from 6 in 2023
• 14 were assessed as band D (9 operated by Severn Trent Water, 3 by Southern Water and 1 each by Anglian Water and Thames Water) – this is worse than recent years (8 in 2023 and 4 in 2022)
• 15 were assessed as band C (7 operated by Yorkshire Water, 2 each by Northumbrian Water and Southern Water, and 1 each by Anglian Water, Severn Trent Water, Thames Water and Wessex Water) – this is an increase in band C performers from 6 in 2023
• there were no serious pollution incidents (category 1 or 2), but there were 11 incidents that caused minor impacts to air (category 3) – these were from 9 permitted waste facilities operated by 5 of the 9 water companies

Sewage sludge anaerobic digestion installations

As required by the Industrial Emissions Directive we have worked with the sector to bring unpermitted anaerobic digestion facilities into the EPR. As of 31 August 2025, 101 sludge anaerobic digestion facilities have been permitted as installation activities. The water companies are required to make significant improvements to their site infrastructure and operational standards to become compliant with their environmental permits. Companies are required to complete these improvements as soon as practically possible – we are working with them to ensure that these are delivered in a timely manner. The companies will need to improve site operations to ensure:

• emissions of the greenhouse gas methane are minimised, in particular enclosing digestate storage tanks to capture methane rich biogas
• emissions to water are prevented from the bulk storage of polluting liquids by installing secondary containment infrastructure
• emission limits are met for point source emissions to water and air

We recognise that sector performance for compliance with installation and waste operation permits is likely to decline from 2024 levels until such time that these works are completed.

5.4 Reservoir compliance

Water companies operate 599 large raised reservoirs. They must be supervised and regularly inspected by qualified supervising engineers and inspecting engineers. In 2024, 8 of these had non-compliances for overdue safety measures and 1 had a non-compliance for a late inspection. One was recorded by Anglian Water, 6 by Northumbrian Water, 1 by South West Water and 1 by Southern Water. Five of these cases returned to compliance by the end of 2024. Non-compliances remained at 1 Anglian Water reservoir, 2 Northumbrian Water reservoirs and 1 Southern Water reservoir into 2025. 

We are currently delivering a reservoir safety reform programme in response to the independent reservoir safety review report. This is a joint programme with Defra, Natural Resources Wales and Welsh Government to make changes to how we regulate reservoirs. We are working with water companies and other stakeholders in the reservoir sector and encourage ideas and feedback throughout this process.

Maintaining reservoir safety continues to be our priority. We will continue to work with water companies to make sure there are high standards of reservoir safety at all times. We now have a reservoir regulation account manager for each water company to lead on engagement with them, encouraging an open dialogue. We are happy to discuss mitigation measures and will always take a proportionate approach to enforcement action.

6. Satisfactory sludge use and disposal

Sewage sludge is a product of wastewater treatment. Water companies must manage sewage sludge treatment and re-use so as not to cause pollution to soil, surface water or groundwater. The EPA sludge metric measures the percentage of sewage sludge produced that is dispatched and used or disposed of in a satisfactory manner. We review water company data to check compliance with relevant environmental legislation. These include the Sludge (Use in Agriculture) Regulations and the EPR.

In 2024:

• the 9 water companies dispatched 809,358 tonnes (dry solids) of sewage sludge – 93.24% of this was used in agriculture (across 153,570 hectares of land)
• 99.89% of sewage sludge produced met the requirements of the satisfactory sludge use and disposal metric – all water companies performed better than target (green) for this EPA metric, the same as in 2023
• 6 water companies (Anglian Water, Northumbrian Water, Severn Trent Water, South West Water, Thames Water and Wessex Water) reported 100% satisfactory sludge use and disposal
• 3 water companies reported below 100% (Southern Water 99.59%, United Utilities 99.64% and Yorkshire Water 99.67%) – the main reason for unsatisfactory sludge related to non-compliance with the S3 exemption for storage of sewage sludge

We have published an update to a regulatory position statement clarifying the waste descriptions and codes to be used for sewage sludge and septic tank sludge that is allowed to be stored, treated or spread to land. 

We continue to work with the water industry to improve the management of their sludge and its use on agricultural land to supply beneficial organic matter and nutrients. This work supports our aims that are given in our strategy for safe and sustainable sludge use.

7. Environmental improvement schemes

7.1 Water Industry National Environment Programme (WINEP)

In 2019 Ofwat set the prices that water companies could charge their customers between April 2020 and March 2025. Water companies were allocated £4.8 billion for environmental enhancements (2020 to 2025).

As part of that price review (PR19) we developed and published a WINEP for each water company. The WINEP represents a set of actions that we required water companies to complete to meet their statutory obligations and environmental requirements. Our expectation is for all planned schemes (including asset improvements, investigations and monitoring) to be completed to agreed timescales and specification. The financial year ending March 2025 was the last year of the plan.

The EPA WINEP metric assesses completion of all improvement schemes, some monitoring schemes and most investigation schemes. For the financial year ending March 2025 (cumulative progress for years 1 to 5 of the WINEP) for WINEP schemes in the EPA:

• 97.0% (5,777 out of 5,958) met requirements within planned deadlines
• 6 water companies failed to meet all requirements within planned deadlines – undelivered schemes can lead to impacts on the environment and pose wider risks to sustainability and growth
• 2 water companies performed significantly below target (red) due to many schemes not meeting requirements within planned deadlines – Thames Water (75.2% completion) and Yorkshire Water (95.6% completion)
• Thames Water failed to deliver 121 schemes within planned deadlines – 99 water quality, 15 water resources and 7 fisheries, biodiversity and geomorphology
• Yorkshire Water did not meet the requirements for 31 water quality schemes within planned deadlines
• 4 water companies performed below target (amber) due to some schemes not meeting requirements within planned deadlines – South West Water (98.3%, 9 schemes), Southern Water (98.5%, 9 schemes), Anglian Water (99.4%, 7 schemes) and United Utilities (99.4%, 4 schemes)
• 3 water companies met all requirements (100%, green) within planned deadlines – Northumbrian Water, Severn Trent Water and Wessex Water, all consistently in this EPA period so far

All non-delivered schemes have been transferred to the AMP8 WINEP. We will track water company delivery and push them to ensure schemes are completed.

We also track percentage completion of additional WINEP schemes which are not part of the EPA metric – the installation of EDM on storm overflows (section 7.2) and investigations of flow monitors at STW. For the financial year ending March 2025 (cumulative progress for years 1 to 5 of the WINEP), for these WINEP schemes not in the EPA:

• all companies met 100% of their requirements within planned deadlines – a total of 5,040 schemes
• 100% (3,704) of EDM installations met requirements within planned deadlines
• 100% (1,336) of investigations of flow monitors at STW met requirements within planned deadlines

7.2 Event Duration Monitoring (EDM) of storm overflows

We put permits in place for storm overflow operation to ensure they are only used when they should be – during times of rainfall and snowmelt. If storm overflows operate when they should not, they can affect the water quality in our rivers and on our coasts.

Water companies met their obligation to install EDM on their storm overflows by December 2023. This monitoring captures performance information on how often and how long they operate (spill count and duration).

Having working monitors is a basic requirement. The data provides greater transparency and enables greater scrutiny. We are assessing the percentage of EDM monitors reporting reliable storm overflow activation data with more than or equal to 90% operation during the annual reporting period.

Table 6. Summary facts from the storm overflow 2024 annual return dataset – the 9 water and sewerage companies ordered by percentage EDM monitors reporting reliable storm overflow activation data (equal to or greater than 90% EDM operation)

Water company	Total number of active storm overflows with EDM Operation data	Percentage of storm overflows with ≥90% EDM Operation	Percentage of storm overflows with 0% EDM Operation
Wessex Water	1,295	96.1%	0%
South West Water	1,362	93.8%	0.1%
Thames Water	588	93.2%	0.5%
Anglian Water	1,444	92.7%	0.6%
Severn Trent Water	2,448	91.2%	0.1%
United Utilities	2,270	90.5%	1.1%
Yorkshire Water	2,185	88.6%	0.6%
Northumbrian Water	1,559	85.9%	0.5%
Southern Water	977	85.0%	0.6%
Sector	14,254	90.5%	0.5%

We have updated the EPA methodology for the 2026 to 2030 data years. We will include a storm overflows EDM operation metric to assess the number of EDM monitors reporting reliable data. Our ambition for 2031 onwards will be to broaden the metric to assess compliance and environmental impact.

At the end of March 2025, we published the EDM Storm Overflow Annual Return dataset for the 2024 calendar year. This was received from water companies operating in England (this includes Dŵr Cymru Welsh Water storm overflows in England). This is the fifth year that we have published the full dataset. The 2024 dataset represents the first full year of data for all overflows included.

In 2024:

• the total duration (hours) of monitored spills was 3,614,428
• the total number of storm overflow spills recorded was 450,398
• the average number of spills per overflow was 31.8
• 39.0% of monitored storm overflows operated equal to or less than 10 times
• 12.5% of storm overflows did not record a spill
• monitor operability improved, with only 9.5% of overflows reporting less than 90% operation in 2024 compared to 13.5% in 2023

8. Security of water supply

The water companies are responsible for providing clean drinking water (water supply). Water resources management plans (WRMPs) set out how the water companies intend to achieve secure supplies of water for customers and a protected and enhanced environment. The EPA SDBI metric assesses how the actual supply demand balance has performed compared to what is in water company WRMPs. It measures the risk a water company has experienced for the previous year in terms of supplying water to its customers. Water companies are expected to have a score of 100.

For the period April 2024 to March 2025:

• 8 of the 9 water companies achieved target (green) for this EPA metric, reporting a score of 100
• Northumbrian Water performed below target (amber), reporting a score of 99

9. Delivery of water resources management plans (WRMPs)

Water companies must prepare WRMPs at least every 5 years to cover a minimum period of at least 25 years. They include forecasts for per capita consumption, metering and leakage, that water companies need to achieve. By meeting these forecasts, public water supplies will remain secure, and the water environment should be protected.

Each year water companies must review their latest published WRMP (currently for April 2020 to March 2025) and report to us on progress. We assess the annual reviews, together with Ofwat, and report our findings to Defra who are responsible for the statutory WRMPs.

This section presents findings from our last two completed annual review years 1 April 2023 to 31 March 2024 and 1 April 2024 to 31 March 2025.

The majority of companies have now submitted and published their WRMP24 plans which run from April 2025 to March 2030.

9.1 Average household consumption (per capita consumption, PCC)

Targets for reducing water consumption levels are included in the government’s Environmental Improvement Plan. These include a target to reduce PCC by 20% by 31 March 2038 (compared to the 2019 to 2020 baseline reporting figures). We expect water companies to help their customers (both household and business and industry) reduce their demand for water.

From April 2023 to March 2024 average household PCC was 134 litres per head per day. This has reduced from 140 litres per head per day compared to the year before. Most water companies had decreased their PCC from the previous year helped by the higher rainfall in 2023 to 2024, which results in less demand. Average household PCC increased slightly to 135 litres per head per day for the period April 2024 to March 2025.

9.2 Leakage

Ofwat has set a target for all water companies to meet a 16% reduction in leakage by the end of March 2025, compared to April 2019 to March 2020. We expect water companies to be proactive and explore innovative approaches to reduce their leakage. This will contribute to the sector’s commitment to reduce leakage by 50% by 2050 and achieve the targets set out in the Environmental Improvement Plan.

From April 2023 to March 2024 total leakage for the water companies was 2,220 megalitres per day. This is a decrease of 92 megalitres per day from the previous year. There was an additional reduction in total leakage of 64 megalitres per day from April 2024 to March 2025 to 2,156 megalitres per day.

We are disappointed that 2 water companies in each year reported a notable increase in leakage – Northumbrian Water by 0.8% and South West Water by 5.3% from April 2023 to March 2024 and Anglian Water by 2.7% and United Utilities by 0.6% from April 2024 to March 2025. We expect immediate action to reverse this position, and no company should let leakage rise. We have seen other water companies improve, reporting decreases in leakage. Despite this progress leakage reduction must remain a priority across the water industry. We expect the industry to show leadership to customers by ensuring less water is being wasted on route to properties.

This summary reflects data reported to us through the annual review process by water and sewerage companies and does not include water only company total leakage. A full view of leakage across the industry will be set out in our annual review report later in the 2025 calendar year.

Through WRMP24, water companies plan to achieve the 50% reduction in leakage expected and it is vital that they deliver the leakage options selected. This leakage reduction is crucial to immediate and long-term water resources resilience.

9.3 Metering

Water companies are planning for a continued increase in metering. Metering, particularly smart metering, is considered to have a significant role in identifying leakage and helping to inform customers about how they use their water.

All water companies have a planned metering programme, but most are behind schedule. We expect any water company that is behind on their planned delivery programme to take immediate action.

From April 2023 to March 2024 household metering including unoccupied properties increased to just below 60%, an increase of 1.5% from the previous year. This had increased to 64% by the end of March 2025.

10. Flood and coastal erosion risk management (FCERM)

Under the Flood and Water Management Act 2010, water companies are Risk Management Authorities (RMAs). This means they must act in a manner consistent with the National FCERM Strategy for England and have a duty to cooperate with other RMAs. Between April 2024 and March 2025 water companies have:  

• responded to flood incidents, including participating in multi-agency responses
• worked with partners to reduce flood risk and provide wider benefits for communities, including water quality and amenity benefits
• used strategic partnerships, including with Regional Flood and Coastal Committees (RFCCs) to align investment planning and funding
• completed their AMPs (2020 to 2025) and submitted their plans for the next period to Ofwat, demonstrating a commitment to increasing resilience to climate change
• continued to innovate and share good practice

Between April 2024 and March 2025, water companies invested: 

• £139.8 million to reduce the risk of sewer flooding to properties
• £181.7 million to maintain the public sewer system to prevent blockages and flooding
• £15.9 million in property-level protection and mitigation measures to reduce the likelihood of customers’ homes experiencing sewer flooding

Most water companies are well represented at their RFCCs. Several water companies are also active members of Local Resilience Forums (multi-agency partnerships that plan and prepare for local emergencies) and are starting to become more involved in wider emergency planning. Their active participation in these forums is leading to stronger relationships and partnership working. The delivery of their business plans, alongside the next FCERM investment programme, is an opportunity to achieve more outcomes for communities through sustainable drainage and nature-based solutions. 

Data sharing between water companies and other RMAs is a means of improving delivery of flood risk management outcomes. This continues to be a challenge in some cases leading to delays. Several water companies have set up new agreements through their partnerships or have developed digital portals to allow easier access to their data.

All the water companies have submitted their final business plans for the period 2025 to 2030 and received their final determinations from Ofwat. The plans show a commitment to reducing incidents of internal sewer flooding by 27% and investing £3.3 billion in nature-based solutions. Around £300 million has been allocated to improve resilience to climate change. This supports the National FCERM Strategy for England objective to make national infrastructure more resilient to current and future risks from flooding and coastal change. 

Innovation continues to take place across the sector. For example:

• Doncaster, Immingham and Grimsby surface water resilience project between local councils and Anglian Water and Yorkshire Water – this is using rain gardens and sustainable drainage to attenuate water before it enters the sewer network and highway drainage system reducing flooding
• Northumbrian Water’s Pipebot Patrol, a project funded by the Ofwat Water Breakthrough Challenge, that will develop, build and test an autonomous sewer robot that lives in the sewer – constantly inspecting and raising alerts to the location of blockages to allow maintenance teams to plan and react before sewer flooding occurs, reducing flood risk

11. Regulatory interventions

We are taking action and challenging water companies to address areas where they are failing or not meeting our performance expectations. This includes increasing transparency and scrutiny, so everyone is clear about the issues and what needs to change. We describe these actions in more detail in the following sections.

11.1 Enforcement and sanctions

The Sentencing Council’s Definitive Guideline for the Sentencing of Environmental Offences came into force on 1 July 2014. It improved guidance and reduced inconsistencies in sentencing, including the levels of fines handed down by the courts. Between January 2015 and August 2025 there have been 67 prosecutions of water companies (some involving multiple cases) securing fines of over £153 million (Table 7).

In 2024:

• we completed 6 prosecutions against 4 different water companies which led to total fines of £3,527,000
• 5 of the prosecutions resulted from pollution incidents or permit breaches affecting water quality
• 1 of the prosecutions related to a failure to meet requirements of an information request, an offence under s110(2) Environment Act 1995
• prosecution fines ranged from £25,000 to £2,072,000
• we accepted 10 enforcement undertaking offers from 3 different water companies totalling £4,193,780 and ranging from £100,000 to £1,000,000

Table 7. Enforcement and sanctions for the 9 water and sewerage companies 2015 to 31 August 2025

Year	Number of prosecutions	Value of prosecution fines	Number of enforcement undertakings	Value of enforcement undertakings
2015	9	£2,494,500	0	£0
2016	10	£6,560,000	4	£595,000
2017	9	£21,589,334	15	£1,435,900
2018	3	£427,000	15	£3,432,150
2019	5	£3,097,000	11	£2,429,760
2020	3	£852,000	14	£2,465,901
2021	7	£102,490,000	9	£1,703,272
2022	9	£4,198,750	3	£500,000
2023	4	£6,794,000	5	£1,762,500
2024	6	£3,527,000	10	£4,193,780
2025 (to 31 Aug)	2	£1,215,000	10	£3,447,424

Table note: cases against a water company sentenced in court on the same day count as one prosecution. If a prosecution has an appeal hearing it is recorded here according to the date of the final hearing not the original prosecution.

There are 4 outcomes that we seek to achieve through enforcement. These are to:

• stop illegal activity from occurring
• put right environmental harm or damage
• bring illegal activities under regulatory control
• punish and deter future offending

Prosecution continues to be an important response where it is in the public interest, as a proportionate and outcome focused enforcement option to protect the environment. Prosecution is rightly reserved for those pollution incidents and permit or licence breaches where there is serious, actual or potential environmental harm and a high level of culpability. Fines continue to reflect the size of the organisation concerned as well as the offence category. Sentencing is a matter for the courts who fine on a case-by-case basis, and for this reason fines vary significantly.

An enforcement undertaking is a voluntary agreement offered by those who have committed a less serious offence that becomes legally binding once accepted. It funds local environmental improvements but also requires that steps are taken to put right what went wrong and to prevent it happening again.

A variable monetary penalty (VMP) is a proportionate monetary penalty we may impose on a company that commits certain environmental offences. VMPs were not available for EPR offences until December 2023, when a legislative amendment to the Permitting Regulations came into force. In addition, an amendment was also made to the Environmental Civil Sanctions (England) Order 2010. This removed the £250,000 cap per VMP, allowing us to impose penalties of any amount. We expect these changes to result in an increase in our use of VMPs and the size of those penalties.

Before taking enforcement action, we must investigate to gather evidence, consider the facts and establish matters relevant to public interest and sentencing. This takes time and our enforcement activity can conclude some months or years after the original offence occurred, particularly court cases. We are continuing with our major investigation of all the water companies into potential wastewater treatment works flow-to-full treatment (FFT) non-compliance.

The Water (Special Measures) Act (WSMA) will enable us to speed up our enforcement response by imposing faster and more predictable civil penalties for the less serious level of offending. It will therefore enable us to focus our prosecution activities on the most serious offences and allow us to recover enforcement costs from water companies. For obstruction offences it strengthens penalties to prevent water companies blocking investigations and to make sure they face the consequences of their actions and inaction.

11.2 Improving water company performance

It is the responsibility of water companies to meet the conditions we set in their licences and permits, meet their statutory obligations and minimise their impacts on the environment. Ofwat’s 2024 price review (PR24) final determination supports record levels of spending by water companies. We expect this to ensure assets are well maintained and resilient to extreme weather patterns and the pressure of population growth.

Our role is to regulate the water companies to make sure they comply with the law and protect the environment. Since 2023 we have made significant changes to the way we operate, increasing scrutiny through modernisation and expansion of our regulation of the sector. This work continues and with new powers we will receive through the WSMA will lead to further changes in how we regulate the water industry. We also await the government’s response to the Independent Water Commission’s final report in autumn on recommendations that are being taken forward.

As the regulator we are:

• using an uplift in water quality permit charges, that has secured £51 million of additional funding each year, to transform the way we regulate the water industry – with over 400 new roles, to date, focused on water industry regulation and investment in new digital systems
• inspecting more sites, increasing our attendance at pollution incidents, completing more in-depth root cause audits, using more data to check compliance and increasing our enforcement – in the financial year ending March 2025 we exceeded our ambitious target of 4,000 inspections of regulated sites and this year we are on track to deliver 10,000
• preparing to use new WSMA powers to speed up our enforcement response by imposing faster and more predictable civil penalties for the less serious level of offending
• using the new enforcement levy to recover costs and deliver an improved enforcement service with more than 80 new enforcement roles – we will recover costs of £12.6 million in the financial year ending March 2026 as a transitionary year, with full costs of £20.9 million recovered in the following year
• we are continuing with our major investigation of all the water companies into potential wastewater treatment works FFT non-compliance
• monitoring progress of water company investment through delivery of the agreed WINEP following Ofwat’s PR24 final determination for 2025 to 2030 – which includes a significant programme of work to meet the requirements of the government’s storm overflows discharge reduction plan
• continuing to track and scrutinise delivery of their non-statutory PIRPs – influencing the inclusion of effective actions to reduce the severity and frequency of pollution incidents
• preparing guidance for water companies to follow when producing and publishing annual PIRPs as part of the new statutory WSMA requirement – this will resolve issues with consistency and level of ambition across companies and enable greater regulatory oversight
• providing guidelines to water companies for their statutory drainage and wastewater management plans (DWMPs) which will contain the evidence base for all their drainage and wastewater investment needs over the next 25 years – these are due to be published by each company by August 2028 to inform 2029 price review (PR29) planning
• strengthening and broadening our reporting and the EPA for the 2026 to 2030 data years – to make sure we assess water company progress towards performance expectations and statutory obligations as set out in our revised WISER (published May 2022)
• improving transparency and consistency in our reporting of water company pollution incidents – this includes that dry day spills identified from the monitoring of storm overflows will be recorded as pollution incidents and reported in the EPA (from 2026 data onwards)
• continuing to work with Defra on progressing our strategy for safe and sustainable sludge use – and working on several sludge investigations within the latest phase of the water industry led Chemicals Investigation Programme (CIP) to assess risks from chemicals including per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS)
• ensuring the sludge environmental enhancements agreed within PR24 deliver improved performance and resilience of the sludge supply chain to agriculture
• continuing to work closely with Ofwat on CPCs for 2025 to 2030 (PR24) aligning financial penalty and reward with environmental performance – we shared our incident data to inform their assessment of CPCs and the implementation of the new rule prohibiting water company executives’ performance related pay
• continuing to engage with water companies at chair, executive director and operational levels throughout the year – using the EPA and wider performance data to make it clear what is expected of them
• using planning processes to influence and secure future water company investment in environmental enhancement and resilience
• encouraging water companies to work together and share good practice and innovative approaches that will benefit the environment

12. Conclusions

For the EPA in 2024 the sector only achieved 19 stars out of a maximum of 36. Having seen some improvement in EPA performance up to 2023 the sector declined in 2024. Although Severn Trent Water achieved our highest 4 star rating, Thames Water were rated 1 star (poor) and the remaining 7 companies were rated 2 stars (requiring improvement).  

The declining results were largely driven by the high number of pollution incidents. Additionally, the final year of the WINEP for 2020 to 2025 proved challenging with 6 companies failing to meet all their delivery requirements on time. The EPA continues to highlight areas of concern. It is unacceptable that the sector has moved further away from meeting their performance expectations.

We know companies have been running with the risk of an ageing network and underinvestment meaning they are not resilient to pressures from extreme weather and population growth. The 2024 incident results have exposed this further as a sector wide problem. Our regulation and reporting have already highlighted areas of underperformance in previous years. Therefore, in response to this, since 2023, we have already made significant changes to the way we regulate. With an expanded workforce and modernised technology, we have increased scrutiny to further develop a more detailed picture on water company performance.

The responsibility to turn performance around lies solely with each company to tackle their issues head on. Companies have recently made their largest ever commitment to improve infrastructure and deliver tangible benefits to customers and the environment. This scale of investment and actions for the next 5 years is a start and must be delivered on time. However, given the scale of the issues we know it will take longer than this to fully turn performance around. The commitment to delivery needs to start now but further planning and future investment is essential. In the meantime, we already see that some companies are more engaged than others in the basic operational maintenance that proactively reduces risks – if all companies focus and improve their culture, performance can improve in the short term.

We are strengthening and broadening our reporting and the EPA for the 2026 to 2030 data years. This evolution is driven by recent advancements in data, monitoring and sector intelligence. As we increase scrutiny and tighten targets, improved transparency of data by both regulators and companies will continue to inform government, stakeholders and the public. This has to be a turning point. The industry must act to protect and improve our water environment for people, for nature, and for future generations.