Greenpeace publishes Environment Agency email criticising South West Water’s drought resilience

Greenpeace, last week, reported that the Environment Agency considered South West Water (SWW) unprepared for drought when it hit in 2022, and not transparent about its situation.

The activist group's investigative unit, Unearthed, obtained documents under freedom of information laws, including an email sent in July from the agency to Ofwat.

Among the comments contained in the email were that “SWW were not honest, open and transparent with regulators about their drought projections and potential risks to security of supply;” “SWW acted too late” in response to the drought, and that this “presented a genuine risk of loss of supply in West Cornwall”; and that SWW showed “a lack of understanding of their own supply system, considering themselves as a potential water donor in the future, only to find the reverse is true.”