Yorkshire Water given lowest environmental rating

Yorkshire Water has been given the lowest possible environmental rating by the Environment Agency (EA) after a sharp rise in pollution incidents.

The regulator formally downgraded the company from two stars out of four to one, meaning it is now classed as a "poor performing company" for its impact on the environment.

The firm, which serves 2.4 million homes in the region, said its environmental performance was "not where it needs to be".

The company has pledged to spend £8.3bn over five years on improvements, but said customers' bills would provide most of the money to achieve that figure.

The EA's annual Environmental Performance Assessment grades England's nine water and sewerage companies, largely on how often they pollute rivers, streams and the sea.

The new figures published by the regulator showed Yorkshire Water was responsible for 260 pollution incidents in 2025, up from 151 the year before - a rise of more than 70% and the highest total since 2011.

It also failed to complete six legally required environmental schemes in west Leeds on time.

Stephanie Pullan, Yorkshire Water Director of Asset Management, said: "Our pollution performance isn't where it needs to be, and we haven't delivered on time six of our Water Industry National Environment Programme schemes."

She said the company was "looking at our operational performance, making sure that we're being as predictive as we can be", as well as "investing in the long-term and our assets".

The business said it was investing £8.3bn between 2025 and 2030, including £1.5bn to cut discharges from storm overflows, which release diluted sewage into rivers during heavy rain.

It said 300 schemes had been delivered across the region since April 2025.

Average bills for customers in the region rose by about 30% in April 2025 and by a further 5.6% in April of this year.

Asked whether customers or shareholders were paying the bigger share of the improvements, Pullan said: "That would be our customers."

Prof Becky Malby of the Ilkley Clean River Group, which campaigns to improve water quality in the River Wharfe, said: "They have trailed this for some time.

"Of course, this performance is shocking.

"It's amazing how Yorkshire Water continues to reduce its ability to treat and manage our sewage and increase its ability to pollute our environment at the same time as it increases our bills."

Questioned on whether she could understand customers' anger, Pullan said: "I can absolutely understand that, and our bill profile is set in line with Ofwat [the Water Services Regulation Authority], and it's making sure that we're delivering the £8.3bn investment."

In its latest annual report, Yorkshire Water said shareholders had put £500m into the company over the past five years to aid its improvement programme, and had committed a further £600m by March 2027.

In 2020, Yorkshire Water was given the top rating of four stars by the EA, described at the time as "industry leading".

This year's one-star rating is the first time the company has received the lowest grade since the ratings began in 2011.

The company was rated three stars in 2022, the first year in charge for its current chief executive, Nicola Shaw.

Over the past year, Shaw has faced continued scrutiny over her pay.

She received £732,000 from Yorkshire Water in the year to March 2026.

Over the past three years she has also received three further payments totalling £1.98m from Kelda Holdings, the Jersey-registered parent firm of the water company.

Yorkshire Water has said the Kelda payments were for separate work for the group and were funded by shareholders rather than customers.

The industry regulator Ofwat ruled the payments were not performance-related pay.

Ms Shaw has also waived some bonuses.

In 2025 a group of local Labour MPs wrote to the company branding the additional payments "disgraceful".

Speaking at Prime Minister's Questions before Wednesday's Budget, York Outer Labour MP Luke Charters explained that he had seen "sewage pouring into the River Ouse whilst doing a BBC interview on pollution".

He went on to urge "stronger public control" of the region's water.

In his response, Prime Minister Andy Burnham described the water industry as "a symbol of what has gone wrong".

Yorkshire Water told BBC News that Shaw was not available to be interviewed about the EA's decision. Pullan said the chief executive was meeting Ofwat.

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