The Environment Agency published its annual Environmental Performance Assessment (EPA) report on Thursday 23 October 2025, which indicated that water companies are performing more poorly this year than last. Yorkshire Water only achieved two stars out of a possible four stars for its performance. This annual report assesses the performance of England’s nine water and sewerage companies.
The report states: “The 9 companies collectively achieved just 19 stars [out of a possible 36], down from 25 in 2023.” These were the lowest ratings since the process began in 2011, leading the Environment Agency to state that: “a fundamental shift in culture and behaviour across the sector is urgently needed.”
A particular concern in this report was the number of serious pollution incidents, which had increased by 60% just in 2024. “Serious pollution incidents, those causing significant environmental harm, have increased by 60% this year alone. Thames Water, Southern Water and Yorkshire Water were responsible for 81% of these serious incidents.”
The report listed the poor performance around the country, noting that seven of the nine water companies required improvement, while Thames Water was rated as poor, only achieving a one-star rating. The industry leading rating of four stars was achieved by Severn Trent Water. The Environment Agency did note however, that the criteria had been tightened to meet rising performance expectations.
Bold leadership needed
Environment Agency Chair, Alan Lovell, said that this year’s results were poor and must serve as a clear and urgent signal for change. “What is needed now [from every water company] is bold leadership, a shift in mindset, and a relentless focus on delivery. … We will support them however we can but will continue to robustly challenge them when they fall short.”
Since 2021, Yorkshire Water has only achieved a three-star rating once over the past four years. Longer timescales than this are not considered directly comparable, owing to changes in criteria and targets. Yorkshire Water was one of the five water companies to perform significantly below target for the EPA metric of serious pollution incidents. Additionally, there were three serious pollution incidents from the water supply assets of Yorkshire Water, with seven other water companies having zero serious pollution incidents from water supply assets.
“Our performance in 2024 was not good enough”
A Yorkshire Water spokesperson said: “As we said in July, when the pollution figures were first published, our performance in 2024 was not good enough. We take our responsibility for the environment very seriously and have investigated each serious incident in detail to understand root causes. We have a plan which includes investment in infrastructure, giving us more intelligence about the system so we can react before an issue becomes an event, and employing more people to allow us to respond more quickly. These changes have become real in the second half of 2025 and we are seeing improvements coming through as a result.
“Looking ahead, we are investing £8.3 billion over the next five years to improve service levels, cut pollution, and make Yorkshire’s water infrastructure fit for the future. This reflects our long-term commitment to delivering better outcomes for customers, communities, and the environment across the region.”
This level of investment from the water companies was one of the actions that the Environment Agency proposed in its report, when it stated: “Companies have recently made their largest ever commitment to improve infrastructure and deliver tangible benefits to customers and the environment. This scale of investment and actions for the next 5 years is a start and must be delivered on time.”
However, the Environment Agency was also firm that the responsibility to improve performance lay squarely with the water companies themselves. “The responsibility to turn performance around lies solely with each company to tackle their issues head on.”
Do financial penalties go far enough?
Lovell also acknowledged several factors which made 2024 a difficult year for the national water companies, but he was clear that the public expect water companies to not use the weather as an excuse.
“First, it was undoubtedly a very wet and stormy year which does put extra pressure on water company assets. This is never an excuse, but it is undeniably a factor. That said, the public rightly expect water company assets to be resilient to changing weather conditions.”
The report highlighted the financial penalties and fines which had been imposed on the water companies, stating, “In 2024 we completed 6 prosecutions against 4 different water companies which led to total fines of £3,527,000”. The three years before 2024 all saw much higher fines, with 2021 seeing fines of £102,490,000.
Comparatively then, a fine of approximately £3.5mn is not enough to change the mindset of water companies and force them to improve their performance. Already this year, fines of over £1mn have been issued, with no signs of improvement in performance.
It is worth remembering that in 2024 the total duration (in hours) of monitored spills was 3,614,428. Pressure from the Environment Agency is meaningless rhetoric unless this translates into a reduction of pollution incidents in England’s waters.
