Following South West Water’s admission of 18 separate charges of water pollution across a six year period in Devon and Cornwall and its guilty plea at Plymouth Magistrates Court in March this year, the water firm is expected to be sentenced on 30 July 2026.

South West Water was fined £1.853 million - a record fine for a drinking water offence – at Exeter Magistrates’ Court yesterday and ordered to pay £75,000 following a prosecution by the Drinking Water Inspectorate for drinking water failures.

South West Water will learn whether it faces multi-million pound fines this week in two separate prosecutions brought by the Drinking Water Inspectorate (DWI) and the Environment Agency.

Southern Water has admitted sea pollution incidents off Kent coastline and others inland – the company released sewage into water just weeks after getting a record £90 million fine for almost 7,000 illegal discharges.

Following an Environment Agency investigation, United Utilities has pleaded guilty to introducing thousands of fish into Bessy Brook, near Bolton, without a permit.

 South West Water (SWW) has pleaded guilty to a catalogue of pollution-related charges spanning six years across Devon and Cornwall.

South West Water has entered a guilty plea following the court hearing on 4 March at Exeter Magistrates’ Court in relation to the Cryptosporidiosis outbreak event in the Brixham area in 2024 when Cryptosporidium was detected in the drinking water supply.

Yorkshire Water was yesterday fined £733,333, plus costs and victim surcharges for polluting a Chesterfield country park stream three times in less than a year.

The Drinking Water Inspectorate (DWI) has announced that a court summons has been issued to South West Water Limited for prosecution for potential offences under section 70(1) of the Water Industry Act 1991 following its investigation into the Cryptosporidiosis outbreak event in the Brixham area in 2024.

The Environment Agency has successfully prosecuted East Midlands Airport Ltd for allowing discharges of drainage water containing aircraft and runway de-icing fluid.