Anglian Water is the latest supplier to face down the prospect of a large bill for failures in its handling of sewage, leading to “excessive spills”.
The industry regulator Ofwat – soon to be scrapped under a planned shake-up of industry oversight – said it was proposing a £62.8m penalty and remedial action following an investigation.
It was recommending the enforcement package after finding that Anglian had breached its legal obligations in operating its wastewater treatment works and network.
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The investigation found shortcomings in wastewater assets along with the processes and management of them, including at senior management and board level.
As part of the package of measures it was proposing, Ofwat said that £5.8m of the penalty would go towards a community fund to support projects focusing on restoring the water environment.
The rest of the money would go towards delivering systems, in at least eight catchments, that would enable storm flows to be substantially improved.
Lynn Parker, senior director for enforcement at Ofwat, said: “Our investigation has found failures in how Anglian Water has operated and maintained its sewage works and networks, which has resulted in excessive spills from storm overflows. This is a serious breach and is unacceptable.
“We understand that the public wants to see transformative change. That is why we are prioritising this sector-wide investigation which is holding wastewater companies to account for identified failures.
“We are pleased Anglian Water has accepted that it got things wrong and…
