Philip Duffy, Chief Executive, Environment Agency has told water companies that the increased water company inspections jointly announced with Defra will include a significant increase in in-depth audits of company assets.
The EA has published a letter sent by the EA Chief to the companies outlining the approach the agency will take with increasing inspections of water company assets. He highlights that depending on the outcome of the water quality charges consultation, and securing the funding needed, the EA plans to more than quadruple the number of inspections ( to 4,000 water company inspections in total) that are carried out by the end of the next financial year (March 25).
This will rise to more than 10,000 inspections a year from April 2026.
As part of these plans, the Agency will recruit up to 500 additional staff, including almost 300 frontline regulatory officers over the next 3 years. The EA is planning for a total of 250 frontline regulatory officers to be in post by the end of 2024/25 and 370 by the end of 2025/26.
Philip Duffy explains in the letter that the in-depth audits will allow the Agency to get to the root cause of incidents and non-compliance more quickly and agree remedial plans with the water companies, saying:
“I expect all water companies to fully cooperate with this increased level of scrutiny and to take quick action to fix issues before they escalate.”
Initially, the EA plans to substantially increase inspections and other compliance work in order to understand the scale of non-compliance and drive better performance.
However, the EA Chief warns that enforcement will also step up, as the Agency uses new tools to enable a faster turnaround.
The Environment Agency intends to make public all findings of the work and is investing in the data systems necessary to enable this. The environmental regulator will also share the findings with Ofwat, as the sectoral regulator.
Phiip Duffy concludes by Saying:
“We all know what a fundamental role you as the water industry have in securing clean and plentiful water for the future. This is a critical moment for water companies and a big opportunity for the industry to really demonstrate commitment and tangible progress. Alongside increased inspections we will work collaboratively with you to drive the investment required to address poor water quality.”
The Environment Agency is meeting with the water companies’ Regulatory Directors at the today’s Strategic Steering Group where it will set out in more detail the expectation to increase inspections.
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