Southern Water worst in the country last year for serious pollution

It had more serious incidents last year than any other water company in England - despite calls for reform following a major spillage in 2012.

The revelation comes as frantic efforts are made to improve the quality of bathing water in Sussex.

Beaches in both Lancing and Hastings have been flagged up as at risk of failing impending EU tests next month.

If they do fail, they will be closed off to swimmers.

Southern's poor performance figures come from a new Environment Agency (EA) report which also reveals they have been prosecuted or cautioned by the EA 166 times over the past 25 years.

Despite this, we can reveal the company's chief executive Matthew Wright took home £1,913,000 last year.

The company's rates are also well above the national average (£385 per household per year) at £410 for 2015/16.

Richard O'Callaghan, EA enforcement officer, said pollution incidents could cause "harm to the surrounding habitat and lead to beach closures with obvious knock on effects to leisure and the local economy."

He added: "We continue to work with Southern Water (SW) and provide advice to avoid such spillages in the future.”

Earlier this month the company was found guilty of breaching the requirements of environmental permits after spilling 40 million litres of raw sewage into the sea in Worthing on September 1, 2012.

The company said polluting the sea was necessary to avoid sewage backing up into town and into Worthing Hospital. Ten miles of beach were closed as a result.

Company bosses said £20million has been investment at their East Worthing water-works to avoid a repeat of the incident.

However, they admitted that since 2012, controlled releases of waste-water and storm water from these works have broken EA regulations five times.

Southern Water is partly responsible for the quality of bathing water - which could, if not up to EU standards, see beaches closed.

Beaches in Lancing and Hastings are thought to be at particular risk.

James Butcher, chair of Lancing Parish Council, said: "Residents are deeply concerned at Southern Water's pollution record, and they need to do more to restore confidence in their services."

SW declined to put its £1.9million a year chief executive up for interview, but in a statement the company blamed pollution problems on the weather, adding it had made “strong improvements”.

A spokesman said: “The majority of the incidents in 2014 happened at the start of the year, during the wettest winter on record.

“We made strong improvements in 2014, with a ten per cent reduction in the number of pollution incidents and are on course to reduce this by a further third this year.

“Our current business plan aims to have no serious pollution incidents caused by our operations by 2020.”

The EA figures show that SW was responsible for 5.6 serious pollution incidents per 10,000km (6,213 miles) of sewers in 2014. It has 39,600km (24,606 miles) of sewers across Sussex, Hampshire, Kent and the Isle of Wight.

It was responsible for 135 incidents per 10,000km of sewer overall, an improvement on the year before.

Neighbouring South West Water had more pollution incidents overall but fewer serious ones. Figures show there were two serious incidents in East Sussex and one in West Sussex in 2014.

As a result of SW's recent record, EA has rated them a “below average” company in 2014, 2012 and 2011, and “poor performing” in 2013.

SW will be sentenced on September 18 for the 2012 incident in which they released 40 million litres of raw sewage into the sea.

It is not clear what punishment the company will face.

However, less than one year earlier SW was fined £40,000 by Hastings magistrates over a sewage leak at Waldron, near Uckfield, from a pumping station.

In 2013 the company was fined £200,000 for several discharges of sewage into the sea off Margate, Kent.

 Southern Water chief executive Matthew Wright.   Picture: Nigel Bowles / Connors

SEA POLLUTION MAY RESULT IN SWIM BAN IF WATER FAILS TESTS

OUTHERN Water’s poor record on sewage pollution is being highlighted as frantic efforts are made to ensure bathing water in Sussex meets tougher EU quality standards.

Officials will have to warn people not to swim if the levels of certain bacteria are too high, which would have a potentially major impact on tourism.

Beaches at both Lancing and Hastings have been flagged up as at risk of missing the EU standards, which are in line with World Health Organisation targets.

Four years of regular testing will end in September and the results will determine if the water is up to scratch.

SW clearly has a major role to play in the cleanliness of our bathing water, although there are other contributing factors.

The Environment Agency (EA) has been working with SW and local councils to improve bathing water, by cleaning river water and fixing mismatched sewer pipes.

Richard O’Callaghan, area enforcement manager from the EA, said: “We are looking at what the issues are and what we can do to improve, so by the end of the season things will be better.

“Historically, in urban areas one of the main things affecting the water quality is mismatched sewers, because of the risk of contamination.

“That has been one of the main focuses of work, so SW has been doing a lot of restructuring.

“In Alexandra Park [Hastings] vegetated floating islands have been installed to act as a natural purifier.”

Results so far this season have been “promising”, he said, explaining that bathing water quality is also affected by heavy rain.

He said it had been “more difficult” to identify the problems with water quality at Lancing beach, but efforts are ongoing.

James Butcher, leader of Lancing Parish Council, said that tests so far in the area had been “encouraging” and the water met the tougher standards on several occasions last year.

He added: “[Failure] would be really damaging because we are a seaside village and we have invested a lot in our beaches.

“We are now a national go-to spot for kite surfers, and water-sports are something we are trying to encourage.”

Earlier this month SW was convicted of breaching environmental regulations after a pump failure at East Worthing waterworks in 2012 saw raw sewage pumped out to sea, resulting in the closure of 10 miles of beaches.

Last year residents in Lancing said they saw raw sewage floating around the sea and petitioned SW to stop the problem.

Tim Loughton, MP for East Worthing and Shoreham, said it was possible some solids had made it into the sea during freak storms because Southern’s system allows some unscreened water to escape to avoid breaking the screens.

Cllr Butcher added that residents were “deeply concerned at SW’s pollution record”. He said: “They need to do more to restore confidence in their services.

“We all have a part to play in ensuring better water quality, the best thing we can all do now is knuckle down and solve Lancing’s bathing water woes.”

Cllr Peter Chowning, leader of Hastings Borough Council, said he was “fairly confident” the water levels in the town would meet the required standards.

He said: “The readings so far have been the adequate level and coming up to the good level; an awful lot of work has been done.

“We are quietly keeping our fingers crossed. One of the solutions that had been suggested was putting a longer outfall pipe which does carry the problem out, but we wanted to sort the problem out through the source.”

He said the new standards were very high and a fail would not necessarily mean there was a problem with the water.

He added: “We are talking about high standards, but we should have high standards.

“I remember the days when you didn't swim when there was an incoming tide, you could see stuff floating around. So water standards have increased hugely.”

Cllr Bryan Turner, deputy leader of Worthing Borough Council, said he thought the prosecution against SW in relation to the spill in 2012 was “justified”.

He added that he was encouraged by the company’s £20 million investment in the waterworks.

He added: “Since the 2012 incident, Southern Water has been doing the investment they should have done prior to the spill.

“It remains to be seen whether that is enough.”

INFRASTRUCTURE

SOUTHERN Water (SW) has a complicated ownership structure with links to the tax haven of Jersey.

The company is owned by a consortium, whose members are shareholders of its ultimate holding company, Greensands Holdings Ltd.

Greensands is based on the Channel Islands and its membership is made up of 48.8 per cent infrastructure investment funds, 41.7 per cent Australasian and Canadian pension funds and 9.5 per cent private equity.

The infrastructure funds are managed by JP Morgan Asset Management, UBS Global Asset Management and Hermes, according to Southern Water's annual report.

SW provides 4.6 million people with water and wastewater services across the south east, covering East and West Sussex, Kent, Hampshire and the Isle of Wight.

It has 39,600km (24606 miles) of sewers and 365 waste-water treatment works.

In 2014/15, it had a turnover of £828.6 million and made £167.2 million in profit after tax.

Chief executive Matthew Wright was last year paid a base salary of £355,500 and a bonus of £226,600. His total pay including pension and benefits was £1,913,000.

Michael Carmedy, chief financial officer, was paid a £294,400 salary and a bonus of £139,700, according to the company’s annual report.

A SW spokesman said: “Companies within the Southern Water and wider Greensands groups are UK tax resident, ensuring that each company is subject to UK tax.”

The company said that over the last year it paid £25.1 million in business rates to local authorities, including £5,889,311 to all Sussex councils.

They also paid employment taxes of £23.3 million.