United Utilities and Environment Agency reject BBC claims of pollution cover up

United Utilities has strongly rejected allegations made by the BBC’s Panorama programme that it has misreported sewage pollution, including by downgrading incidents to the lowest level of severity so they do not count in official figures. The claims were aired in the 4 December installment of the documentary: The water pollution cover up.

A United Utilities spokesperson said: “Panorama has made a series of allegations about United Utilities which we strongly reject. Pollution incidents are investigated and action taken where necessary. The Environment Agency, as the regulator, determines both the initial and final categorisation of pollution incidents.  We care passionately about the environment and the communities we serve and have just proposed an ambitious £13.7bn investment plan – the biggest for over 100 years – to improve services for customers, communities and the environment here in the North West.”

The Environment Agency has also responded to the programme’s criticisms, which included of the Agency’s very limited attendance at pollution incidents, incident downgrading and operator self monitoring which leaves water companies “regulating themselves”. A spokesperson said: "We take our responsibility to protect the environment very seriously and will always pursue and prosecute companies that are deliberately obstructive or misleading.

“We assess and record every incident report we receive – between 70,000 and 100,000 a year. We respond to every incident and attend those where there is a significant risk – including every category 1 or 2 incident in the North West since 2016. In the last six years we have pursued four successful criminal prosecutions against United Utilities and required the company to pay millions to environmental charities to put right the cause and effects of their offending.

"We are strengthening our regulation by expanding our specialised workforce, increasing compliance checks and using new data and intelligence tools to inform our work. We will also soon have new powers to deliver civil penalties that are quicker and easier to enforce.”

The agency specifically rejected claims it had downgraded incidents, arguing severity classification changes are common once more detail is understood following an initial report.