Severn Trent handed top rating for environmental performance

The Environment Agency (EA) has announced that Severn Trent has achieved the top-rated four-star award in the Environmental Performance Assessment (EPA).

The assessment was introduced in 2011 as a tool for comparing environmental performance between water companies and across years.

Only five water companies have achieved four stars - all at least twice - but Severn Trent is the only company to have achieved the top award consistently for the last six years.

This recognition places Severn Trent as the only top-performing water company in the EA’s assessment, across key areas including biodiversity, pollution prevention and sustainable water management.

Liv Garfield, CEO of Severn Trent said: “Being awarded the top-rated four-star status is testament to the incredible teams at Severn Trent and the real, lasting change we’re delivering for the environment. 

"It’s the result of hard work, major investment over many years and strong collaboration with our partners and communities.

 “It’s the sixth consecutive year that we have achieved the top-rated award, with a backdrop of tightening environmental standards. 

"One year is a milestone – six years is an industry record, and our teams are proud of it. 

"And with our largest-ever investment programme underway, we’re fully focused on driving the environmental improvements our customers and communities expect.”

As part of the delivery to achieve four-star status in the 2024 assessment period Severn Trent has completed 580 environmental improvement schemes in just one year and achieved 99 per cent compliance with discharge permits across 648 wastewater sites.

The Midlands company also said it has delivered the joint best total pollutions reduction performance and the best pollutions performance across the past five years.

The company also claims to be "on track" to achieve a seventh consecutive year of four-star environmental performance, with a range of initiatives underway.

These include upgrades to over 400 sewage pumping stations, £300m of investment over the next five years to reduce pollutions and the doubling of the rate of mains renewal to reduce leakage. 

Severn Trent said it is also making a multimillion-pound investment to reduce the use storm overflows and investing in AI and technology to provide the most innovative response to environmental challenges and to predict pollutions before they occur.