The Environment Agency has published its annual report on the environmental performance of England’s nine water and sewerage companies during 2023, rating Northumbrian Water as three star.

The report shows an improvement in star ratings under the Environmental Performance Assessment (EPA), but the majority of companies continue to underperform. 

The EPA is the only independent comparison of environmental performance across the sector. Since 2011, the Environment Agency has used the EPA to rate each company in England from one star to four stars. 

Northumbrian Water retained the same rating of three star (good) in 2023.

It achieved 98.3% and was amber for discharge permit compliance, which must now be above 99% and green for a water company to achieve a four star rating as the Environment Agency continues to expect better performance in this area.

There was also a rise in the total number of pollution incidents from 2022 to 2023 resulting in Northumbrian Water scoring amber on this metric for the first time since 2016.   

In other areas, there were no serious pollution incidents during 2023, making it one of only three companies rated green for this metric.  

It self-reported 94% of incidents, better than the sector average of 84%, and delivered 100% of its schemes under the Water Industry National Environment Programme (WINEP), delivering the required 66 projects to improve the environment.  

Rachael Caldwell, area environment manager for the Environment Agency in the North East, added:   

"While it’s encouraging that Northumbrian Water has maintained its three star rating, there is still significant work to be done to improve standards.

"We want to see a consistent reduction in the number of pollution incidents, a sustained improvement in the timeliness and quality of self-reporting these incidents, and an improvement in discharge permit compliance. 

"We are pleased that Northumbrian Water didn’t have any serious pollution incidents in 2023 and maintained their performance of zero serious incidents from 2022 and we want to see this performance maintained. 

"We will continue our rigorous regulatory activity across the North East and we will always seek to hold those responsible for environmental harm to account."