The government says it has supervised a sharp increase in criminal surveys on water companies for alleged violations of environmental law.
He said that in a press release, the Environment Agency was considering dozens of alleged offenses which included the release of excessive pollution and not carrying out adequate monitoring of water quality.
The government said the regulator had launched 81 criminal probes since the election of last July after hiring 400 more members for this purpose and that it had initiated procedures against seven companies.
Water UK, which represents the water companies, said in a statement that companies should be surveyed and held to accounts if necessary.
The announcement comes in the middle of public anger at pollution in rivers and seas. The number of pollution incidents recorded by water companies in England is at a 10 -year summit, according to data published by activists last month.
The increase in environmental agencies is partly due to a recruitment campaign for the previous conservative government.
In February 2024, the Conservatives said they had planned to quadruple water inspections and hire 500 additional employees for inspections and application.
None of the 81 surveys has so far led to convictions, which often takes years to make their way through legal systems. But the government said they could lead to a fine of water companies for a fine of hundreds of millions of pounds.
“This Labor government cleans the foul -smelling waste that the conservatives have left with a record number of criminal surveys on water companies victims of writing – which could see bosses behind bars,” said environmental secretary Steve Reed.
The Conservative Party defended his file in response, a spokesman saying that, even if it was in the government, he had started the process of reforming water and sewers and took measures to prohibit bonuses for the bosses of water companies that have committed criminal offenses.
“The Labor Government has made major promises on water, and we will continue to take them into account to ensure that they are continuing the work of the previous conservative government to improve our water and sewer systems for invokers,” said the spokesperson.
“It is good to see the government finally take water pollution seriously,” said CEO of Campaignants River Action, James Wallace.
But he pointed out that the water’s bosses could only serve prison sentences to hinder surveys, not for pollution itself.
“The prison sentence for the water bosses remains very unlikely,” he said. “The law only applies to concealments – and it is not necessary to hide what is already going on in sight, week after week.”
Southern Water was affected by a record punishment of 126 million pounds sterling in 2019 for wastewater spills in the environment of its sewer factories and to have deliberately distorted its performance.
The head of the Greenpeace UK policy, friend McCarthy, said: “Water companies fled with the rules of flout and pump wastewater in our rivers for too long, it is therefore good to see the ministers finally launch the book on these series polluters.”
It also urged the government to ensure that consumers are not invoiced the bill for fines issued to water companies.
“It is true that water companies are under investigation and take into account the fact that things go wrong,” Water UK said in a statement.
“Almost 99% of wastewater and water treatment work meets their [pollution limit] Allowed and we focus on 100%. “”
