Welsh Water is to pay a proposed £44.7 million after the industry regulator found “serious and unacceptable” breaches in the supplier’s sewage and network services. The water authority for England and Wales, Ofwat, said the non-profit Dŵr Cymru failed to properly operate, maintain and upgrade its wastewater network to ensure it could cope with levels of sewage.
Ofwat also found the company did not have “adequate processes in place or oversight by senior bosses”. The planned enforcement package will include £40.6 million to reduce spills at specific overflows, reduce environmental damage, and tackle groundwater entering the sewer network, as well as an extra £4.1 million to improve river quality in “extremely sensitive catchments”. It is one of the largest water company fines issued in recent years.
Lynn Parker, Ofwat’s senior director for enforcement, said: “Our investigation has found serious and unacceptable breaches in how Dŵr Cymru Welsh Water has operated and maintained its sewage works and networks, which has resulted in excessive spills from storm overflows to the environment. We now expect them to focus on putting things right so that customers can regain trust in their water company and the critical service they provide.”
Unlike water companies in England, Dŵr Cymru is a not-for-profit utility supplying 3 million people across most of Wales and parts of Herefordshire. In 2024, Natural Resources Wales found that Dŵr Cymru was responsible for the highest number of sewage pollution incidents in a decade – a 42% increase over 10 years. The company has faced a slew of legal and regulatory action, including a £40 million fine in March 2024 for misleading customers and regulators on leakage and per capita consumption.
A spokesperson for the company said: “We accept the findings of Ofwat’s investigation and apologise for where we have fallen short of the standards that our customers and regulators rightly expect from us. We have started a major transformation programme across the company, including within our wastewater services, focused on improving performance, strengthening operational oversight and accelerating investment to deliver better outcomes for rivers and coastal waters.”
The Dŵr Cymru action is the seventh case in Ofwat’s sector-wide sewage investigation, bringing the total proposed fines to more than £300 million. Details come as Dŵr Cymru bills are due to increase next month, with rises of 42% by 2029-30. Wales is to get its own water watchdog under UK government plans to scrap Ofwat.
