Yorkshire Water to pay £40m over sewage failings

(Sharecast News) - Yorkshire Water has been ordered to pay out £40m to address serious failings in its sewage and wastewater systems, the regulator confirmed on Thursday. Ofwat said the utility will pay £36.6m between 2025 and 2030 to fix its most problematic storm overflows, with a further £3.4m paid to the Great Yorkshire Rivers Partnership to help clear artificial barriers and improve water quality and biodiversity.

Following a lengthy investigation, starting in 2021, Ofwat found last August that there had been a number of serious failures concerning waste water and sewage at Yorkshire Water. Almost half its storm overflows were found to be in breach of regulations.

Speaking on Thursday, Lynn Parker, senior director for enforcement, said: "Our investigation has found serious failures in how Yorkshire Water has operated and maintained its sewage works and networks, which has resulted in excessive spills from storm overflows.

"This is a significant breach and is unacceptable.

"We are pleased Yorkshire Water has recognised this failure and is taking steps to put it right for the benefit of customers and the environment."

Parker added that the £40m cost could not be passed onto customers and would instead be paid for by the company and its shareholders. Yorkshire Water, which supplies more than 5m customers, is owned by a consortium of infrastructure funds.

Nicola Shaw, chief executive of Yorkshire Water, said: "We know our storm overflows operate more frequently that we or our customers would like them to.

"We've now completed work at 70 storm overflows and we're about to start our £1.5bn programme to reduce discharges even further.

"We know there's still more for us to do. We apologise for our past mistakes."