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Warren Seddon is the Director of FOI at the ICO |
Public interest in water companies is higher than ever, with firms across the UK facing scrutiny over sewage discharges into lakes, rivers and the sea. Concerns about sewage pollution are mounting, as people have no choice but to rely on these companies. The lack of readily available information and the reticence of water companies to disclose information about their activities has significantly dented the public’s confidence.
While water companies are only subject to the Freedom of Information Act in Northern Ireland, all water companies across the UK have a legal obligation to make information about the environment available under the Environmental Information Regulations (EIR). They are legally required to both respond to requests for environmental information and to make information available proactively.
As the UK’s Freedom of Information regulator, we will always champion transparency as a default position wherever practical and possible. We regularly receive complaints about the refusal of water companies to release information about sewage discharges, and we have issued many decision notices ordering for this information to be released.
The Commissioner has already called on water companies to be as transparent as possible with their customers. Trust and transparency go hand in hand and if water companies wish to rebuild public trust and confidence, they must be open about their activities and impact on the environment.
Over the last six months, we have been supporting water companies to improve their transparency by providing regulatory certainty in publicising our decisions and sharing good practice. We are holding these companies accountable if they do not comply with the law and attempt to keep the public in the dark about sewage pollution.
Providing regulatory certainty
In May, we issued six water companies - Anglian Water, Severn Trent Water, South West Water, Northumbrian Water, United Utilities and Yorkshire Water - with decision notices requiring them to disclose the start and stop time of sewage discharges.
In July, we then wrote to the CEOs of 12 water companies that provide sewage services in England, Wales and Northern Ireland. This letter clarified our regulatory position on the disclosure of sewage discharge data and clearly set out our expectations that this should be made available to the public.
Taking action when requests are not handled properly
In October, we issued our first EIR practice recommendation to United Utilities for failing to properly handle requests for environmental information. Following numerous complaints about its lack of transparency, we found that United Utilities was refusing to respond to requests because they claimed that the information being requested wasn’t environmental. This is not acceptable.
Any information that would enlighten the public about how a water company operates and the impact it is having on the local environment is, by its very nature, likely environmental – this includes data on sewage spills and the performance of wastewater treatment works. For example, we recently issued a decision notice to United Utilities ruling that information about tanker operations is environmental and not purely operational. By using such a narrow interpretation of environmental information, United Utilities was ignoring the bigger picture to avoid considering whether to release the information people are legitimately asking for.
Our practice recommendation holds United Utilities accountable for improving how it communicates with the public. It instructs the firm to take a much broader interpretation of environmental information in line with both the law and our previous decisions, and ensure it properly handles EIR requests. We also flagged the practice recommendation to other water companies.
Sharing good practice on proactive publication
Our letter to water companies strongly encouraged them to proactively disclose information relating to sewage discharges each month, and we are reiterating this call today. Publishing sewage discharge data proactively means that the public have access to the information they need, when they need it. If this information is publicly available, it may also be more efficient by reducing individual EIR requests in the future for the same information.
So far, only two water companies, Yorkshire Water and South West Water, have committed to publishing this information each month. This is disappointing and brings further into question the commitment by the sector to being open with the public. We’ve heard from several water companies who argued that publishing this data was too challenging, despite these firms already collecting data on start and stop times due to a legal requirement to report to environmental regulators.
Yorkshire Water has told us that this is possible, and it has been successfully publishing this data since September. We’ve published a case study to share this good practice with other water companies and demonstrate how these challenges can be overcome – such as by putting resource in place to verify and validate the data and including the necessary caveats about its accuracy.
I want to urge all water companies to prioritise building a culture where relevant information is published proactively, and people receive timely responses to their requests. We are receiving responses to our letters and considering any necessary next steps. Greater transparency will go a long way towards rebuilding public trust in the sector and we will continue to monitor these companies to ensure they are held accountable.