Anglian Water has been ordered to pay a £62.8m package by the water regulator Ofwat over failures to operate its wastewater treatment works and network.

Ofwat’s investigation found that Anglian Water had failed to operate, maintain and upgrade its wastewater assets adequately to ensure they could cope with the flows of sewage and wastewater coming to them.

The investigation also found that Anglian Water failed to have processes in place and oversight by its senior management to ensure its assets were performing adequately and meeting its legal requirements, the regulator added.

Anglian Water confirmed that the package, which has been proposed in response to Ofwat’s industrywide investigation into wastewater treatment networks, will be funded by its shareholders to support environmental and community initiatives across the East of England.

The £62.8m package includes £57m to tackle complex issues within at least eight high priority catchments in the region. This will include installing sustainable drainage solutions to combat drainage and flooding issues, upgrading community-owned assets that contribute to flooding, and other local initiatives.

The remaining £5.8m will be used to create a new community fund which will support local environmental and social causes.

Senior director for enforcement at Ofwat, Lynn Parker, said: “Our investigation has found failures in how Anglian Water has operated and maintained its sewage works and networks, which has resulted in excessive spills from storm overflows. This is a serious breach and is unacceptable.

“We understand that the public wants to see transformative change. That is why we are prioritising this sector-wide investigation which is holding wastewater companies to account for identified failures.

“We are pleased Anglian Water has accepted that it got things wrong and is now focusing on putting that right and taking action to come back into compliance. We expect all companies to do the same so that customers can regain confidence in their water company and the critical service they provide.”

Anglian Water CEO, Mark Thurston, commented: “We understand the need to rebuild trust with customers and that aspects of our performance need to improve to do that. Reducing pollutions and spills is our number one operational focus, and we have both the investment and the partners in place to deliver on those promises.”

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