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Anglian Water has been fined a record £1.42m for contaminating the water supply.
The company, which covers the east of England, received the fine at Northampton crown court after a prosecution brought by the Drinking Water Inspectorate (DWI) for failures that affected 1.3 million people.
An investigation found that between June and December 2021 the company used unapproved materials in drinking water tanks at sites across its network.
Anglian was found to have used unauthorised plastic-based products to externally coat pipework submerged within tanks. These coatings later broke down into flakes and powder and entered the water supply.
Anglian reported the failures to the DWI and pleaded guilty in court.
Last year thousands of people in Devon became unwell after the cryptosporidium parasite was detected in the water supply. South West Water warned about 16,000 households not to drink the water without boiling it until the issue was resolved. Schools and businesses temporarily closed, and some households had to boil their tap water for a month to remove the contaminant.
Marcus Rink, the chief inspector of the DWI, said: “We’ve taken firm action in the public interest to ensure the company has removed all non-compliant material so that customers can remain confident in their water supplies.”
The environment secretary, Steve Reed, said: “Contamination of drinking water on any scale is scandalous and a complete disgrace.
“The record £1.4m fine handed down sends a clear signal that this criminal behaviour is unacceptable.”
All of the problems noticed across Anglian’s network have now been rectified. The investigation highlighted further issues with the company’s management, including a lack of staff training, poor oversight of the supply chain, and in some cases, water tanks that continued to be used even after the firm knew they contained unapproved products.
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The company pleaded guilty to five offences under regulation 31 of the Water Supply (Water Quality) Regulations 2016.
An Anglian spokesperson said: “We apologise for and regret breaching regulation 31 and accept the judgment for the five sites in 2021. The procedures we had in place fell short and as a result we have since invested significantly to improve these and have shared our learnings across the water industry.
“Protecting the water supply of our customers could not be more fundamental to our business, this is reflected in the fact we have not had a drinking water prosecution in over 20 years. Despite the breach, there was no evidence of any contamination of the water supply and the judge agreed based on independent expert reports that the risk to customers was very low. This view was supported by DWI-appointed experts, UKHSA. We continue to work with our regulator to ensure best practice is followed at all times.”
The Guardian recently revealed the safety of the UK’s tap water could be jeopardised as there are now no treatment facilities that are accredited to test the materials used to clean the water.
During a Commons committee hearing on Tuesday, the chief executive of Thames Water, Chris Weston, said the company’s desalination plant was out of order as there was no testing facility in the UK that would allow it to test new membranes.
