The Environment Agency is today reporting that it has smashed its inspections target – the EA has expanded its surveillance of the water network to record levels, completing over 10,000 inspections of water company assets in the last year.

The Environment Agency has published a policy paper setting out its strategy to enable safe and sustainable sludge use on land.

Yorkshire Water has been fined £350,000 after one of its sewage pumping stations polluted a York watercourse and ordered to pay costs of £14,028.65 and a victim surcharge of £170.

Dŵr Cymru Welsh Water has been fined £1.35 million and ordered to pay £70,237.70 costs after pleading guilty to over 800 breaches of its environmental permits to discharge sewage.

Dr Jo Nettleton, Chief Regulator at the Environment Agency who took up the role in April 2024, is warning that without continued investment and transformation for the Environment Agency, "further improvements to the customer experience will be limited."

Reforms announced today by the Environment Secretary Steve Reed will see a more dynamic, streamlined approach to environmental regulation will drive economic growth and safeguard nature under the Plan for Change.

The Environment Agency is continuing work on its largest ever criminal investigation to date into potential breaches of environmental permit conditions by all water and sewerage companies discharging into English waters.

A new report by CIWEM (Chartered Institution of Water and Environmental Management).and Stormwater Shepherds on highway runoff and the water environment is warning that a “toxic cocktail of pollutants” is running into rivers and water sources every time it rains and is calling for urgent action to tackle the issue.

As of yesterday, the Environment Agency can now impose unlimited financial penalties on companies who pollute the environment. 

The Environment Agency has issued three new environmental permits to NNB Generation Company (Sizewell C) Limited for a new nuclear power station at Sizewell in Suffolk.