Yorkshire Water has been ordered to pay £40 million by regulator Ofwat to address failings in wastewater and sewage. The industry watchdog said a probe into the company found “serious failures” in operating and maintaining its sewage network, which resulted in excessive spills from storm overflows.
The regulator said Yorkshire Water has admitted to its failings and agreed to the enforcement package. As part of this, the company will invest £36.6million over the next five years to address issues with storm overflows, particularly in environmentally sensitive areas.
The water firm, which supplies over five million customers, will also hand £3.4 million of funding to the Great Yorkshire Rivers Partnership.
It comes as Yorkshire Water is set to hike its customers’ annual bills by 29% from April 1.
Lynn Parker, senior director for enforcement at Ofwat, said: “Our investigation has found serious failures in how Yorkshire Water has operated and maintained its sewage works and networks, resulting in excessive spills from storm overflows. This is a significant breach and is unacceptable.
“We are pleased that Yorkshire Water has recognised this failure and is taking steps to put it right for the benefit of customers and the environment. We now expect them to move at pace to correct the remaining issues our investigation has identified.”
Nicola Shaw, chief executive of Yorkshire Water, said: “We know our storm overflows operate more frequently than we, or our customers, would like them to. Since 2021, we’ve been actively taking steps to improve our performance.
“We know there’s still more for us to do. We’re at the forefront of the industry to get this resolved and we’re looking forward to delivering our ambitious plans to improve river health in Yorkshire.
“We apologise for our past mistakes and hope this redress package goes some way to show our commitment to improving the environment.”
