Lawrence Gosden, CEO of Southern Water which dumped sewage into Beaulieu River, apologises as Water UK announces £10b investment

The boss of a water firm, which was given a record fine for dumping sewage in waterways including a New Forest river, has apologised for the company’s slow reaction on spills.

Southern Water was slapped with a £90m fine in 2021 after an investigation by Environment Agency found it had discharged effluent across Hampshire, Kent and Sussex from 16 wastewater treatment works nearly 7,000 times between January 2010 and December 2015.

This included sewage pumped into Beaulieu River 176 times over a duration of 3,950 hours.

Now CEO Lawrence Gosden has apologised as the industry body Water UK today (Thursday) announced a £10 billion investment in modernising sewers and storm overflows in an effort to stop further pollution. He also said he would not be taking his bonus this year.

He 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."

Water UK – members of which include all water and wastewater companies across England, Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland – said the plans were “the most ambitious programme on sewage spills in the world”. They would see a new environmental hub launched next year, giving customers near-real-time information on overflows and the state of rivers and coastal waters.

Water companies have also pledged to:

• Install the equivalent of thousands of new Olympic swimming pools to hold surges in rainwater that would otherwise overload the system
• Increase the capacity of sewage treatment works, allowing them to treat higher volumes of rainfall and sewage
• Replace concrete with grass and ponds to reduce rainfall run-off entering sewers, protecting them against the overloading that causes spills
• Treat overflow spills so they have much less impact on the river, including through reed beds, wetlands and other nature-friendly projects
• Improve the sewer network by enlarging and improving pipes, allowing them to safely carry more sewage during peak times, and fixing misconnected pipes from properties

Ruth Kelly, chair 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.”