The new chief executive of Southern Water said today (Tuesday 18 October) that the company’s environmental performance “has not been good enough”.
Lawrence Gosden was giving evidence to the House of Lords Industry and Regulators Committee alongside Thames Water boss Sarah Bentley and Peter Perry, from Welsh Water.
Both companies scored badly in this year’s Environment Agency environmental performance report – and last year Southern Water was fined a record £90 million for thousands of illegal discharges of sewage.
The water industry has suffered from a battered reputation and been the target of growing public anger because of sewage spills from overflow drains into rivers and seas during heavy rain.
It has also faced criticism over pollution from water treatment works, poor environmental performance at some companies and some hosepipe bans this summer amid high levels of water leaks.
Mr Gosden, a Brighton University graduate who took over as chief executive in July, said: “Our performance has not been good enough – and that’s without any doubt at all – and that’s an unacceptable position.”
Ms Bentley told peers: “Thames’ performance is unacceptable, particularly as it relates to sewage discharges.”
Mr Gosden, 53, said that, historically, his company had focused on improving the proportion of waste water that was fully treated in treatment plants.
The proportion that was fully treated had risen from less than 50 per cent to 95 per cent now.
But dealing with the final 5 per cent would involve tackling waste water released through storm overflow pipes after heavy rain.
At the moment, the run-off mixes with sewage and is discharged into the sea or a river in heavy rain to prevent sewers overflowing or backing up into people’s homes.
The company was concluding five pilot studies, Mr Gosden said, to work out how to separate storm water from sewage and recycle it in the environment. It may also mean providing local storage at customers’ properties.
Mr Gosden was also asked where he thought it was safe to swim on the south coast.
He said that the region’s beaches had become much cleaner over the past 30 years and that Southern Water published storm overflow monitoring information on its website.
This was also linked to the Surfers Against Sewage app.
He added that it was “very much an interim measure” but added: “We’re doing everything we can, while we work out how to fix the problem, to ensure we’re being fully transparent about it.”
Based on the pilot studies, he said, the company estimated that cutting current pollution levels by 80 per cent would cost about £2 billion.
The water company bosses said that there was a need for more reservoirs, infrastructure for water transfers and increased efforts to cut leaks, as well as helping customers to reduce demand.
This was especially important in the face of climate change, they said, exacerbating dry conditions in places such as the south east.
The two English water company bosses also said that they were not paying dividends to shareholders and their pay packages were linked to performance including on the environment.
