Archived press release

Official Reports on Contaminated Drinking Water Kept Secret

26 September 1996

Government secrecy is matched by a failure of water companies to make relevant reports available to water consumers. Under the current system, water companies have to provide reports to the Drinking Water Inspectorate detailing the incident and action the company has or proposes to take. Out of the ten major water companies, Welsh Water emerged as the company that reported most pollution incidents [see league table attached]. A Friends of the Earth investigation revealed that only one of the companies [2] make the reports publicly available.

There is also evidence that water companies have failed to report incidents to the Drinking Water Inspectorate [3].

Mike Childs, Senior Industry & Pollution Campaigner at Friends of the Earth, said:
"The public must have a right to know about who is polluting their environment, be it air, water or land. Reports stuck in dusty filing cabinets down dingy government corridors do nobody any good. These reports should be in the hands of the people who need them, the people who have drunk this water. One has to ask the question, what have the companies and the Government got to hide ?"

Mike Childs added:
"Friends of the Earth has for years vigorously defended people's right to clean water [4] and will continue to fight for people's right to know who is threatening their health [5]."

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NOTES TO EDITORS:

[1] Water companies are under a legal obligation to report to the Drinking Water Inspectorate " incidents that have given rise to, or have likely to give rise to, a significant risk to the health of water consumers in England & Wales ". Notifications need to be made under the provisions of paragraph 5 of the Water Undertakers (Information) Direction 1992.The details released by the Labour Party were passed to them by FOE.

[2] The only water company that said it would provide customers with the report were Southern Water. Southern Water only reported one incident during 1995.

[3] The ENDS Report reported that a number of outbreaks of cryptosporidiosis were not reported and that the Drinking Water Inspectorate "has long been concerned that companies are failing to report water supply incidents" and although it tightened its guidelines in 1994 there are still problems.

[4] Friends of the Earth has been campaigning for protection of drinking water sources for over ten years, drawing attention to widespread breaches of the legal standards,particularly with respect to nitrates and pesticides. The UK Government has been the subject of legal action by both Friends of the Earth and the European Commission, who are still considering action over pesticides.

[5] Friends of the Earth believes that environmental information held by water companies should be available to the public under the legislation on access to information, but the privatised companies are denying that they fall within the scope of the law [the Environmental Information Regulations 1992]. A House of Lords Select Committee is about to report on the subject of access to environmental information.

Incidents reported to the Drinking Water Inspectorate by water companies 1990 - 95

* These smaller companies have now merged or been bought up by other companies.

Top ten companies - numbers of incidents reported to the drinking water inspectorate

[Index]

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