"Polluting water bosses face up to two years in jail for illegal sewage spills", 24 April 2025.

Water company bosses who cover up illegal sewage spills could face up to two years in prison as pollution levels reach a decade-high in the UK’s rivers and seas.

Under the government’s landmark Water Act, executives who fail to meet the Environment Agency’s standards to protect the environment will also be banned from receiving their bonuses.

The new sentencing powers come after the charity Surfers Against Sewage received 1,853 sickness reports through its service app last year, with hundreds diagnosed with gastroenteritis and serious bacterial infections linked to pollution...

Environment secretary Steve Reed said: “Bosses must face consequences if they commit crimes. There must be accountability.

“From today, there will be no more hiding places. As part of the Plan for Change, water companies must now focus on cleaning up our rivers, lakes and seas for good.”

England’s biggest water company, Thames Water, faces debts of £19bn and was responsible for almost 300,000 hours of raw sewage being pumped into waterways in 2024.

Its chief executive Chris Weston is £850,000 a year and receives a performance-related bonus of up to 156 per cent, taking his potential pay package to £2.25m...

The new powers will mean the worst offenders will pay for the cost of criminal investigations into their wrongdoing.

Until now, only three water company officials have been criminally prosecuted for obstructing investigations by the Environment Agency, with no fines issued...

Campaigners have long called for reform, from overhauling regulators to nationalising water companies, while the Office for Environmental Protection (OEP) watchdog is investigating whether the Government and regulators failed to comply with key laws on water quality.

Water UK, which represents water and sewage companies in England and Wales, has called for a third-party monitoring system, arguing firms should no longer be allowed to monitor their own sewage pollution levels.

This recommendation follows long-time claims from campaigners that the current self-reporting model has often hidden the true scale of water pollution in the UK...