Government looks at unlimited fines for water companies

Yesterday Therese Coffey announced that ministers will consult on how much water companies should be fined for environmental breaches, raising the current limit of £250,000.

Three options being explored are the option to bring the cap up to £25 million, £250 million, or removing the cap entirely.

This would give the Environment Agency further powers to crack down on water companies that neglect their duties to protect Britain’s waterways, with the money made from fines kept by the Environment Department as part of its Water Restoration Fund.

Ms Coffey yesterday insisted that drinking water was “safe” despite the recommended safe allowance for toxic “forever chemicals” being nearly 100,000 times greater in the UK than in the US.

The chemicals, which do not break down in the environment due to their tough molecular structure, have been manufactured or imported into Britain for almost 100 years and have now been found in trace amounts across the country’s water supply.

Two types, PFOA and PFOS, have been linked to severe health conditions affecting the stomach, liver and thyroid, with its history in the US recently documented in the 2019 film Dark Waters, which follows lawyer Robert Bilott’s 20-year legal battle against chemical companies who contaminated a town with unregulated chemicals.

The Health and Safety Executive recommends similar legislation be enacted in the UK but the Government’s new Plan for Water contains no proposals to do so.

Asked why there is such a discrepancy between the US and the UK, Ms Coffey said: “I believe our drinking water is safe, absolutely. And we’ll continue, but we’ve talked about we’re going to be banning certain PFAS chemicals.”