Drone surveys have helped identify 830 actions Anglian Water must undertake across its wastewater network to comply with the water permits it needs to operate.
Newly-formed local Environment Agency water industry regulation teams carried out nearly 1,800 inspections of Anglian Water’s wastewater sites over a two-year period.
The inspections of wastewater assets, such as sewage treatment works and storm tanks – up 140 per cent from last year – have already been successful in uncovering breaches in Anglian Water’s permit conditions this past year.
The inspections are aimed at preventing pollution, increasing compliance by water companies and driving operating behaviours to protect the environment. Inspections aimed at preventing pollution, increasing compliance by water companies and driving operating behaviours to protect the environment . More As a result more than than 830 actions must be undertaken across their wastewater network to continue with their permits. are required to improve operations – 69 per cent of sites were found to be compliant with their environmental permits. A follow-up is taking place on the 31 per cent of sites found to be non-compliant.
Liz Robinson, water industry regulation team leader at the Environment Agency, said: “Anglian Water were classified as a two-star performing company in our last environmental performance assessment. Our new water industry regulation teams have been working tirelessly, completing a record number of inspections, to identify where they need to improve and hold them to account, and we are already seeing the benefits of this.
“Water companies need to be operating and maintaining their infrastructure in a way that protects the environment. We want to see a culture where issues are identified and rectified before they cause damage to our rivers and seas.”
She added: “We have started to use drone surveys to give us a different perspective of Anglian Waters assets. This new technology allows us to inspect more effectively and it has already helped us to unearth potential breaches faster than a normal site inspection.”
Even minor breaches in permits must be actioned by water companies to ensure operations are compliant with permit conditions. More serious breaches, where there is found to be a higher potential for pollution, can be referred for further investigation which could lead to prosecution or other enforcement action.
Helen Wakeham, Environment Agency’s director for water, said: “In our role as regulators of the water industry, we are changing how we operate – with better data, our largest ever enforcement workforce and greater powers to do our job effectively.
“Inspections are a vital preventative measure, with our teams nationally issuing over 3,000 actions to water companies, including repairing sewage works and upgrading their infrastructure.
“Together, this will drive meaningful improvements in performance, hold persistent offenders to account and ultimately create a cleaner water environment.”
