Southern Water admits customer expectations 'not met' as industry body Water UK apologises for sewage spills

Industry body Water UK, of which Southern Water is a member, released a statement today outlining their commitment ‘to put things right’ with a promise to invest £10bn in sewage infastructure between 2025 and 2030. Southern Water’s CEO has echoed the sentiment and announced that he will not take a bonus this year due to his company falling short of customer expectations.

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CEO of Southern Water Lawrence Gosden said: ‘I am completely supportive of the Water UK announcement today, committing to system-wide action and investment of £10 billion on storm overflows and apologise that action was not taken sooner on sewage spills in the south east.

‘At Southern Water, we’re already working to reduce the number of storm overflows, investing significant money to build bigger infrastructure and redesign a legacy Victorian sewer system, as well as using innovative technology and natural solutions. Further to this, in June, we will be announcing more detail on our plans and how we will work with our stakeholders and communities to deliver.

‘Our board is sensitive to customer concerns on remuneration and has developed pay and bonus policies that reflect our environmental and customer service performance, as well as the challenges of our turnaround. In my first year as CEO, I will not be taking any bonus, because we have clearly not met the wider expectations of our customers.’

The water company has faced heavy criticism from campaigners in recent years, and in 2021 was hit with a £90 million fine for pumping 16bn-21bn litres of untreated sewage into waters including the Solent.

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Earlier this year, Southern Water announced that dual-service customers will see their bills increase by 9.4 per cent in 2023. An average annual bill for water and waste services will go from £401 to £439.

Ruth Kelly, chairwoman of Water UK, said: ‘The message from the water and sewage industry today is clear: we are sorry. More should have been done to address the issue of spillages sooner and the public is right to be upset about the current quality of our rivers and beaches.

‘We have listened and have an unprecedented plan to start to put it right. This problem cannot be fixed overnight, but we are determined to do everything we can to transform our rivers and seas in the way we all want to see.’

Responding to the statements, professor Alex Ford from the University of Portsmouth's School of Biological Sciences added: ‘It’s good to see this increased investment in preventing sewage discharges into our rivers and coasts and an acknowledgment from body representing the water industry that things need to improve.

‘Trust has been eroded in their ability to deal with this issue. Chemical pollutants present in sewage discharges will be evident in our marine wildlife for decades to come. Clean water is going to become an increasingly important issue nationally certainly in the south east and globally with climate change and we need to be looking to the future.’

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Professor Ford has spent over 20 years working as an environmental scientist with expertise in Marine Biology, Environmental Toxicology, Parasitology. He has worked on several high-profile projects looking at the effects of pollutants on wildlife and humans.