According to The Environment Agency, it completed over 790 inspections of Wessex Water’s wastewater assets between 2025 and 2026 as part of wider checks across England.
The public body said its inspections are aimed at preventing pollution, increasing compliance by water companies and driving operating behaviours to protect the environment.
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Inspections revealed that 72% of Wessex Water sites met permit conditions, but several showed significant areas for improvement.
These issues included faulty monitoring and inconsistent maintenance, problems with screening systems at some sites that failed to prevent solid waste from entering watercourses and inadequate management of stormwater storage.
Inspections also found leaking pipes and groundwater infiltration, inconsistent maintenance leading to blocked channels and overgrown vegetation.
According to The Environment Agency, the team responsible for inspecting Wessex Water assets, including sewage treatment works and storm tanks, increased its number of inspections by 90% from last year.
Ed Lockington, water industry regulation manager for the Environment Agency, said: “Each inspection pushes Wessex Water to improve the key parts of its network we all depend upon, including the environment.
“A strong loop of inspecting, fixing, inspecting, maintaining is at work and will help Wessex Water improve and eliminate issues before they can harm the environment.”
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A spokesperson for Wessex Water said: “There were no serious pollutions on the Wessex Water wastewater network during the assessment period but we recognise there are improvements to be made.
“Reducing pollutions will always be a top priority for us, which is why we’ve invested in AI technology on our sewer network to detect where potential issues might occur, meaning we can act faster to minimise any environmental impact.
“The next four years will see more than £3.6 billion of new investment in projects across the region to improve our assets and protect the environment.”
The Environment Agency highlighted that although many of the breaches in permit conditions made by Wessex Water were relatively minor, it states it is indicative of a water company’s approach to managing and maintaining their operations to protect the environment.
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.”
Permit condition breaches can include equipment failure, wastewater not meeting quality standards, or inadequate asset management.
In partnership with Natural England, The Environment Agency states it has also helped secure £22.1 billion in investment commitments for infrastructure upgrades over the next five years.
Wessex Water is also set to contribute £3.5 billion over this period to meet tighter environmental standards.
