Leakage In 2012/13 Anglian Water's leakage rate was 4.97m3/km/day; compared to 5.26m3/km/day in 2011/12, 6.10m3/km/day in 2010/11, 5.62m3/km/day in 2009/10, 5.60m3/km/day in 2008/09 and 2007/08.
Drinking water quality Drinking water quality in 2012 was 99.96%, as in 2011, 2010, 2009 and 2007. In 2008 it was 99.98%. Compliance failures have, however, caused it to be described by the
Environment Agency as a "repeat offender" regarding pollution. Instances include: • July 1992 – Fined £18,000 by magistrates at
Fakenham, Norfolk, after releasing sewage into a creek at
Wells-next-the-Sea. • April 1993 – Ranked eighth in the
National Rivers Authority's "top ten" list of worst polluters. • January 1995 – Listed again in the National Rivers Authority's top ten of worst polluters, having been convicted of polluting waterways on 16 occasions the previous year. • February 1997 – Fined £7,500 at
Luton Crown Court after admitting river pollution at
Leighton Buzzard. • February 1997 – Fined £2,000 with £783 costs after oil from its Heigham Waterworks in
Norwich contaminated the
River Wensum and its population of
swans. • July 1997 – Set a water industry record by receiving three convictions in one week for
water pollution. Subsequently hired the
New Labour-linked
lobbying company
Lawson, Lucas and Mendelsohn to avert responsibility for breaking environmental regulations. • January 1999 – Fined £10,000 with £4,800 costs at
Witham Magistrates' Court for supplying water unfit for human consumption contrary to the
Water Industry Act 1991. The prosecution was brought by the
Drinking Water Inspectorate and related to supplying contaminated water to 11,000 people in
Halstead, Essex, in December 1997. • February 1999 – Fined £15,000 with £5,521 costs at
Ipswich Crown Court for supplying water unfit for human consumption. The water was contaminated with bacteria from cow and pig manure, causing an outbreak of
diarrhoea and stomach cramps in customers. • March 1999 – Ranked sixth in the
Environment Agency's league table of "worst polluters" in England and Wales during 1998. • July 2000 – Ranked second in the Environment Agency's list of worst polluters, with total fines of £71,250 and 14 court appearances in 1999. • September 2001 – Fined £21,000 with £7,345 in costs after pleading guilty to supplying water unfit for human consumption to consumers in areas of
Bedfordshire in August 2000. • October 2001 – 200 tons of raw sewage was discharged from a treatment plant in
Wickford into the
River Crouch, which killed fish and waterfowl along a stretch of the river. In 2002 the company were fined £200,000 at
Basildon Crown Court for the incident. The fine was later reduced on appeal. • 2002 – Allowed pollution with raw sewage to wipe out most wildlife in Elstow Brook,
Bedfordshire. Fined £190,000. • February 2003 – Fined £17,000 for polluting the
River Great Ouse in
Norfolk with sewage. • February 2003 – Fined £18,000 for pumping sewage effluent into the
North Sea off
Lowestoft. • July 2003 – Ranked second in the Environment Agency's list of top ten polluters, with total fines of £285,000 for 2002. Barbara Young, the chief executive of the Environment Agency, criticised the polluters for "treat[ing] Britain like a dustbin" and warned that the situation would continue so long as "pathetic" penalties meant that it made economic sense for the worst offenders to carry on polluting. "It seems extraordinary that multi-million-pound businesses are still prepared to risk their reputations with careless and avoidable neglect of environmental responsibility," she said. • June 2004 – Fined £18,000 with £1,748 costs after admitting polluting near
Wilstead, Bedfordshire. • July 2004 – Listed again in the Environment Agency's top ten of polluters. • October 2008 – Fined £150,000 for "repeated illegal discharging from sewage works." • July 2010 – Fined £27,000 with £28,000 costs at
Basildon Crown Court for allowing untreated sewage from one of its pumping stations to leak into the River Crouch at
Wickford on 17 August 2009. This was Anglia Water's 90th conviction for polluting waterways. • January 2011 – Fined £35,000 fine after discharging untreated sewage into the River Wid on 13 September 2009, killing hundreds of fish. • May 2011 – Ranked first in an Environment Agency list of worst water polluters, with 296 "unconsented incidents". • August 2011 – An Anglian Water pumping station caused sewage to leak into the River Crouch at
Wickford and
Runwell. Peter Steward, from the River Crouch Conservation Trust, said: "It is such a small river it can't cope with sewage leaks." • December 2011 – Fined £32,000 with £3,974 costs at
Lincoln Magistrates' Court after polluting a Lincoln stream. Between July 2004 and October 2008, five previous pollutions were attributed to blockages in the foul sewer, and two formal cautions were issued to Anglian Water. "The defendant was aware of the vulnerability of the system before the 2011 incidents and failed to take appropriate measures," said Claire Bentley, prosecuting. • October 2012 – Fined £36,000 with £5,973 costs at
Chelmsford Magistrates' Court for polluting a stretch of the
River Chelmer in
Thaxted, Essex in June 2012, killing hundreds of fish, including
lamprey,
bullhead,
minnow,
stickleback and
stone loach. The fine was reduced on appeal. • March 2013 – Fined £20,000 with £2,896 costs after sewage spilled from a pumping station at
Filby, near
Great Yarmouth, into the
Ormesby Little Broad. Between September 2006 and March 2011, there were five previous similar incidents. • June 2022 – Fined £300,000 after a pumping station breakdown led to pollution, killing more than 5,000 fish in the
River Wid in Essex. In November 2023, following
Conservative Party MP Steve Barclay's appointment as
Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs in a
Cabinet Reshuffle, Anglian Water found itself as the subject of
conflict of interest allegations, after it was revealed that Barclay's wife, Karen Barclay, was Head of Public Affairs for the water firm, and later its Head of Regional Engagement. It was later confirmed that Mr Barclay had correctly disclosed his wife's job on the most recent List of Ministers' Interests.
Health and safety record On 18 December 2015, Anglian Water Services Limited (AWSL) was fined £400,000 with costs of £41,711 after pleading guilty to breaches of section 2(1) of the
Health and Safety at Work etc. Act 1974. Luton Crown Court heard three workers were injured in two separate incidents at its water recycling centres in
Dunstable, Bedfordshire, and
Saffron Walden, Essex. The court also heard Anglian Water Services Ltd had four previous prosecutions by HSE, the most recent in 2010, 2004 and 1997. An improvement notice was served on AWSL following a fall from a height accident in 2007. ==References==