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Southern Water has revealed it is under investigation by the Drinking Water Inspectorate (DWI) as well as the Environment Agency in its annual report released today (16 July).
After successfully closing two DWI final enforcement orders, Southern admitted two remain in place – a final asset improvement scheme and water quality sampling and information management.
New DWI metrics including the Compliance Risk Index (CRI) and Event Risk Index (ERI) have been introduced to target areas where water quality performance should be improved.
In the report Southern revealed that it was below industry average for CRI in 2017 and that its ERI was the “worst in the sector”, primarily due to a single event at one of its large supply works.
To address this, the supplier said it was undertaking “significant work” at works such as Testwood and Otterbourne until 2025.
“As a consequence of this – and historic issues regarding our performance reporting – we have also been under significant scrutiny from the DWI and are currently under enforcement”, the report added.
Southern has also been assisting Ofwat and the Environment Agency with investigations into historic issues, including misreporting, relating to wastewater compliance between 2010 and 2017.
It added that it is seeking to work proactively with the Environment Agency to resolve these investigations which are “still evolving”.
“At this time, there is no clarity of the findings of these investigations or further action or associated financial impact, if any. As a result no provision has been made in the financial statements for 2018–19”, the report said.
Following the conclusion of the Ofwat investigation Southern agreed to pay £126 million in penalties and payments to customers.
Writing in the report Southern’s chief executive Ian McAulay said the company was “deeply sorry” for what had happened and said there are “no excuses for the failings” which were outlined in Ofwat’s report.
He added: “We have clearly fallen far short of the expectations and trust placed in us by our wastewater customers and the wider communities we serve.
“We are fully committed to continuing the fast pace of change delivered since 2017.
“There is a lot more work to do but we are pleased to have agreed with Ofwat a package of reparations that enable us to fully make amends to our customers and regain their trust as quickly as possible.”
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