Yorkshire Water to pay out £40m after sewage overflow failings

Yorkshire Water has been forced to pay out £40 million to address failings over wastewater and sewage by regulator Ofwat.

The industry watchdog said a probe into the company found “serious failures” over how it operated and maintained its sewage network.

Ofwat said this resulted in excessive spills from storm overflows.

The regulator said Yorkshire Water has admitted to its failings and agreed to the enforcement package as a result.

The water firm, which supplies more than five million customers, will also hand £3.4 million of funding to the Great Yorkshire Rivers Partnership.

It comes as Yorkshire Water is set to hike its annual bill for customers by 29% from April 1.

Lynn Parker, senior director for enforcement at Ofwat, 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 that Yorkshire Water has recognised this failure and is taking steps to put it right for the benefit of customers and the environment.

“We now expect them to move at pace to correct the remaining issues our investigation has identified.”

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

“Since 2021, we’ve been actively taking steps to improve our performance.

“We know there’s still more for us to do.

“We’re at the forefront of the industry to get this resolved and we’re looking forward to delivering our ambitious plans to improve river health in Yorkshire.

“We apologise for our past mistakes and hope this redress package goes some way to show our commitment to improving the environment.”