Serious sewage spills up 60 per cent in last year - with one company responsible for more than a third of incidents

Thames Water is among several water companies to face public outrage over the extent of sewage pollution in recent years (Andrew Matthews/PA) - (PA Archive)

Serious water pollution incidents rose by 60 per cent last year with three companies responsible for the majority of them, the Environment Agency (EA) have said.

The latest data from across England showed that Thames Water, Southern Water and Yorkshire Water were behind 81 per cent of cases, but added that there had been “consistently poor performance” across all nine water companies.