Water bosses could now face jail for cover-ups

Officials of the law-up water company have to face strict punishment including possible prison sentences under the new powers to implement in England and Wales.

Owners who fail to cooperate or disrupt investigators who look into sewage spill can now have a jail of up to two years.

The government said that the threat to strict sentences would serve as a “powerful preventive”.

A highly important report of public spending guards at the same time accuses the government and regulators that they fail to manage risk and drive investment in water sector, contributing to high bills for customers.

The National Audit Office report states that the consumer trust was “all-time low”.

This indicated the finger to fail to improve the system, in the Department of Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (DFRA) along with regulators, Owat, Environment Agency and Drinking Water Inspectrate.

Water companies have come under fire in recent years to allow sewage spread, polluting rivers and lakes more frequent discharge.

The firms have been accused of paying dividends to shareholders and bonuses, failing to invest sufficient funds in the infrastructure of water to cope with the growing population and more extreme weather.

However, these are defeat and regulators that are jointly responsible for setting framework for operating water companies.

The government said that new powers were required to punish the authorities as companies in the previous water had failed to hand over important evidence related to illegal sewage discharge.

Environment Secretary Steve Reid said that the regulation was “weak and toothless”.

“It is shocking that not a single water executive was fined, despite the broad law-up, he was accused of jail sentence alone,” he told the BBC’s Today’s program.

The campaign group River Action welcomed new measures but said that they would be effective only when they were used.

“Without punishing the actual prison, this is just the theater,” said Chief Executive James Wallace. “If the government is serious then let’s see the time of the real jail, not only in the headlines.”

Consumers were currently paid the price for “regulatory failure and corporate greed”, he said, and called for abolishing the “failure privatization experiment”.

Industry Body Water UK said it was true that water companies were held accountable and that the industry was focused on giving new investment to end safe supply and sewage spread.

A spokesman said that the water firm wanted to see “more direction” from the government, simple regulation, and more decisions for local communities developed.

Earlier this week, Water UK told the BBC that it would change the system so that companies are no longer responsible for monitoring their level of sewage pollution.

It said that a new “stronger” third-party monitoring system should be placed.

Currently, water companies are responsible for sampling water quality to identify pollution. However, there have been incidents of misunderstandings, which regulators said that sometimes was done intentionally.

The government has established an independent commission to review how the region is run and regulated, which is expected to publish its findings by July.