SOUTH West Water (SWW) has maintained its two star rating in an annual report published by the Environment Agency (EA).

The report, which rates the environmental performance of England’s nine water and sewage companies during 2023, determined that SWW ‘requires improvement’.

SWW was the worst performing company for pollution incidents in the Environmental Performance Assessment’s 13-year history, the report says.

The EA’s report also shows the majority of water companies are failing to get the basics right.

SWW achieved three out of seven key targets hence it maintained its two star rating.

For the thirteenth year it scored red for total pollution incidents with 194 pollution incidents in total (111 incidents per 10,000km of sewer) compared to 108 pollution incidents (62 incidents per 10,000km of sewer) in 2022.

It also performed significantly below target for discharge permit compliance with 12 failing sites, the worst of all the companies. 

Clarissa Newell, Environment Manager for the Environment Agency’s Devon, Cornwall and Isles of Scilly area, said: ‘South West Water’s environmental performance last year was really disappointing and has affected the performance of the sector as a whole.

‘Consistently poor performance is not tolerated, we’ve ensured the company has plans in place to reduce pollution and improve permit compliance and we’re stepping up our regulatory scrutiny this year.

‘South West Water was fined over £2m last year.

‘With an increase in dedicated staff to regulate water companies and a quadrupling of site inspections, companies failing to comply with the law will be penalised.’