Welsh Water to pay £44.7m after ‘unacceptable’ sewage works failings

Pollution from outfall pipe discharging untreated sewage into a tributary of the River Gwendraeth, Trimsaran, Carmarthenshire, in 2022. Photograph: Camera Lucida Environment/Alamy

Welsh Water is to pay a proposed £44.7m after the industry regulator found “serious and unacceptable” breaches in the supplier’s sewage and network services.

The water authority for England and Wales, Ofwat, said the non-profit Dŵr Cymru, or Welsh Water, failed to properly operate, maintain and upgrade its wastewater network to ensure it could cope with levels of sewage.