United Utilities ranked “good” on environmental performance

WARRINGTON-based United Utilities were ranked “good” in the annual report  on the environmental performance of England’s water and sewerage companies.
The report, issued by the Environment Agency, showed that four out of nine companies are falling short of expected standards.
United Utilities (UU) were awarded three out of a possible four stars and were said to be the only company not to have a serious pollution incident in two years.
UU also achieved the best performance in the sector by self-reporting 90 per cent of their incidents to the Environment Agency.
However last year, UU paid £564,760 in Enforcement Undertakings (EU) for two offences which took place in 2017 and 2018. An EU 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.
An Environment Agency spokesperson said: “Across the North West, United Utilities have made significant investment in improving our rivers, lakes and coastal waters though more remains to be done.
“The Environment Agency will continue to ensure that the improvements identified in this years’ Environmental Performance Report are addressed quickly, and where they have performed well we will seek commitment that they will continue to be the best in the sector.”
Only one company – Severn Trent and Wessex Water – received four stars.
Environment Agency chairman Emma Howard Boyd said: “We cannot transform water quality in the way we all want if water companies’ environmental performance continues to backslide. Severn Trent and Wessex Water show high performance is possible, and United Utilities were the best performing company for serious pollution incidents for the second year in a row, but the evidence suggests that the rest of the sector isn’t listening.”