Sewage scandal and water quality concerns continue for Yorkshire Water | Yorkshire Water fined £1.6mn for sewage pollution, with environmental performance assessment showing significant improvement needed
Sewage scandal and water quality concerns continue for Yorkshire Water | Yorkshire Water fined £1.6mn for sewage pollution, with environmental performance assessment showing significant improvement needed
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> Yorkshire Water has been fined £1.6mn for polluting a Bradford watercourse, after a successful prosecution brought by the Environment Agency.
The Environment Agency, in [a recently released report](https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/water-and-sewerage-companies-in-england-environmental-performance-report-2021/water-and-sewerage-companies-in-england-environmental-performance-report-2021), said:
> “in 2021, the environmental performance of England’s nine water and sewerage companies was the worst we have seen for years.” . . .
> “Company directors let this occur and it is simply unacceptable. Over the years the public have seen water company executives and investors rewarded handsomely while the environment pays the price.”
The report called for custodial sentences for responsible company higher-ups:
> Repeat offenders can now expect criminal prosecutions for less serious environmental incidents where once the Environment Agency would have used civil powers. We would like to see prison sentences for Chief Executives and Board members whose companies are responsible for the most serious incidents. We would also like to see company directors being struck off so they cannot simply delete illegal environmental damage from their CV and move on to their next role.
Privatised water companies [owned by byzantine financial structures](https://weownit.org.uk/company/yorkshire-water) located in secretive tax havens, failing their customers, failing to efficiently utilise resources, paying huge salaries and funneling obscene wealth to shareholders, all the while filling our rivers with shit, continue to provide the most informative analogy for the Tory politics and media that has enabled them to get away with it for so long.
Custodial sentences would be an excellent outcome for those responsible parties, also.
Unfortunately I’m a Yorkshire water customer. I have no other alternative though. I don’t want to give these people my money.
What else can I do though living in Yorkshire?
241 million profit last year, and fined 1.6 million. Oh. Didn’t pay any corporation tax either.
Was this supposed to be a punishment?