Environment Agency shifts to site visits in its wastewater compliance probe

The Environment Agency (EA) has unveiled a move in its criminal investigation into potential widespread breaches of environmental permit conditions at wastewater treatment works.

In what it describes as a new phase in the investigation, specialist EA investigators will visit sites “to secure and preserve evidence relevant to our lines of inquiry”.

In a blog post, the agency said it had so far waded through over 2bn pieces of data “to build a comprehensive understanding of the scale of potential offending”. It continued: “Our initial assessment indicates that there may have been widespread and serious non-compliance of environmental permit conditions by all companies.” The site visits will now help investigators identify whether non-compliance has taken place.

The EA said it was committed to understanding the scale and impact of any alleged offending, and that: “If we find that water companies have breached their permit conditions, then we will consider all of the options available to us under our Enforcement and Sanctions policy.”