failure to prosecute

We submitted a Freedom of Information (FOI) request to see how water companies are being held accountable for pollution and what came back is deeply worrying.

Prosecutions by the (so called) Environment Agency have fallen off a cliff.
There were 10 in 2016. Just 6 in 2024. And only two in 2025.

Instead, the regulator is increasingly using 'enforcement undertakings', backroom deals that allow companies to avoid court, avoid criminal convictions, and avoid real scrutiny.

In 2025 alone:
• Two prosecutions
• Ten undertakings
This isn’t strong regulation. It’s managed decline.

Fewer prosecutions mean less transparency, weaker deterrence, and a system that lets repeat offenders off the hook while sewage continues to pour into our rivers and seas.

At the same time, water companies are now funding the vast majority of the regulator’s water oversight work.

Around 80% of water regulation funding already comes directly from the industry, and government policy is pushing toward full cost recovery, meaning the polluters will effectively fund 100% of their own regulation.

If we’re serious about protecting our waterways, this has to change. Polluters should face the courts, not quiet settlements.

Because when the regulator relies on the industry it’s supposed to police, accountability starts to look optional.