Thames Water has revealed an 18% rise in pollution incidents during the first half of its financial year.
The country’s largest household supplier reported 257 category one – the most serious – to category 3 pollutions over the six months to the end of September.
It said that action to prevent these incidents was a core part of a three-year action plan to improve customer service that had been approved by its board.
Thames, which is looking to raise bills to help pay for much-needed investment in its ageing infrastructure, said: “Our turnaround plan addresses and mitigates the major drivers of pollutions across our wastewater network and sewage treatment works, including more proactive network cleaning and monitoring, and better prioritised reactive responses.
“Consequently, blockages, which cause over 40% of network pollutions, reduced by 5% in the first half of the year.
“As we look ahead, changes our regulators are making to the definition of pollutions are expected to increase the overall number of pollutions we report, even if there is no change in the impact we have on the environment.
“Notwithstanding this, we are committed to tackle the root causes of pollutions to meet the expectations of our communities and the needs of the environment.”
UK water firms have faced a backlash following a spate of sewage discharges.
In the case of Thames, it was fined more than £3m in the summer over an incident that saw human waste flow into rivers for more than six hours un-noticed.
Performance at Thames has been under particular scrutiny.
Fears that it could be swept away under the weight of its £14bn debt pile prompted the government to ready a rescue plan earlier this year.
Its investors later agreed a further £750m of investment.
Earlier this autumn, regulator Ofwat fined the company £51m for failure to reach its performance targets.
That money will be paid back through reductions to customer bills.
This breaking news story is being updated and more details will be published shortly.
Please refresh the page for the fullest version.
You can receive Breaking News alerts on a smartphone or tablet via the Sky News App. You can also follow @SkyNews on X or subscribe to our YouTube channel to keep up with the latest news.
