Natural Resources Wales’s summary of Welsh Water’s environmental performance in 2023.
Welsh Water attribute some of the blame for their poor performance on the weather. But climate change is not a new concept. Water company customers expect their water bills to be used to ensure resilience.
Natural Resources Wales’s latest assessment of the water company shows another drop in environmental performance.
Tuesday 23rd July, 2024
Natural Resources Wales have today released their latest assessment of water company environmental performance.
While Hafren Dyfrdwy appears to have improved slightly, Welsh Water’s performance was again worse than the previous year and it will remain classified as a two-star water company.
But perhaps only just. The number of serious pollution incidents attributed to Welsh Water rose in 2023 from five to seven, which included the burst sewer pipe in the middle of the river Taff.
The regulator also reported that Welsh Water’s discharge permit compliance had dropped and despite an increase in self-reported incidents, this metric remained well below the minimum target.
Natural Resources Wales have warned Welsh Water that they must reverse the downward environmental trend. In response, the company has acknowledged their performance is not where it should be and that this must improve, particularly in relation to the rise in its serious pollution incidents.
Welsh Water have attributed some of the blame for poor performance on the weather. In response to the assessment, they stated: “The severe weather we’ve seen in 2023 has impacted incident numbers and will continue to present challenges to us.”
Should we accept this? Of course not. Climate change is not a new concept. Water company customers expect their water bills to be used to ensure resilience and Welsh Water’s stated ambition is to be “A business that is adapted to meet the challenges of climate change.”
And while last winter was wetter than normal, there were no severe cold snaps to burst lots of pipes.
Remaining a “two star” water company is embarrassing given the promises made after last year’s downgrade from three stars. However, there are potential future repercussions too.
Failure to meet environmental targets by the end of AMP7 period (March 2025) potentially throws Welsh Water’s plans for the next period (AMP8, 2025-2030) into turmoil. Investment for AMP8 has been made on the assumption that Welsh Water will be meeting its performance targets from the get-go.
As it stands, Welsh Water seem set for a large penalty payment to Ofwat at the end of what has been a disappointing 5-year investment period that initially promised so much.
And while the Glas Cymru model seems to be delivering on financial stability compared to some of the water companies in England, it is not currently delivering the better environmental outcome that was lauded as a major benefit of the not-for-profit model.