“The time was right to pass leadership to a new generation” after nearly three decades in the water sector.” She is quoted as saying!

South Devon’s MP Caroline Voaden said “this decision should have come a lot sooner”.

We have yet hear from Director of Communications Simon Jupp – Owl

ITV News www.itv.com 

South West Water Chief Executive Officer Susan Davy will step down from her role and retire from Pennon Group’s board, bringing an end to her 18-year career with the water utility giant.

Ms Davy has been CEO of Pennon Group, the parent company of South West Water, since July 2020. Before that, she served as Chief Financial Officer for five years.

In a statement, she said that “the time was right to pass leadership to a new generation” after nearly three decades in the water sector.

Her retirement comes just a day after industry regulator Ofwat found a “range of failures” in how South West Water had managed its wastewater treatment works and sewer network.

Ofwat said South West Water (SWW) “failed to meet its legal obligations”, pointing to a lack of adequate management systems, including oversight from the senior leaders and board.

Lynn Parker, Ofwat’s Senior Director of Enforcement, said: “We’ve found significant failings that have led to more spills than the law allows over a significant number of years so we consider this to be systemic failings.

SWW has proposed spending £24 million under an “enforcement package” to target storm overflows, tackle sewer misuse, and provide funding for environmental groups.

This will be funded by the company and shareholders.

As a result, it has avoided being fined by Ofwat which would have been the lesser amount of £19 million – 6.5% of its annual turnover – going back to the Treasury.

This investigation is part of work by Ofwat and the Environment Agency to review all water and wastewater companies in England and Wales.

Reflecting on her decision to retire, Ms Davy said: “It has been an honour to serve as Chief Executive Officer of Pennon. Running a water company is always interesting, often challenging, but totally fulfilling.

“I have enjoyed taking responsibility for the provision of a sustainable service to millions of homes.”

Ms Davy highlighted that Ofwat’s recent approval of the company’s investment plans provided “a natural juncture” to retire from Pennon.

She added “This has been my life for the past 30 years, and now it’s right I hand this huge responsibility to the next generation of leaders.”

Ms Davy’s successor will be announced in due course.

What issues have South West Water faced?

• May 2025: the Government announced four criminal investigations will be carried out into SWW following hundreds of reports and complaints about sewage pollution on beaches.
• April 2025: hundreds of homes and businesses were left without water for several days after a burst water main in Plymouth. An Environment Agency report showed in 2024 SWW had 56,000 spills (28,000 in 2023). Duration of storm overflow usage increased to 544,000 hours (531,000 in 2023)
• March 2025: the Environment Agency won a case against SWW which tried to prevent 12 charges relating to sewage discharges in Cornwall being taken forward in a prosecution. It’s facing charges for illegal discharges and breaches of environmental permits including at Hooe Lake Sewage Pumping Station, Polperro Harbour and Bodmin Road Plymouth between 2016 and 2021.
• Nov 2024: SWW pleaded guilty to five charges relating to illegal water discharges and breaching environmental permits in Plymouth and Polperro.
• Sept 2024: More than 300 residents and businesses in Exmouth threatened legal action against SWW because of their concerns over sewage spills on the beach leading to a series of no-swim warnings.
• July 2024: SWW was ranked among the worst performing water companies in the UK with the Environment Agency’s assessment reading “requires improvement” after the company discharged sewage into rivers and seas more than 58,000 in the previous year.
• May 2024: More than 16,000 households and businesses in Brixham were told to boil their drinking water after the cryptosporidium parasite was found in the supply, leading to an outbreak of diarrhoea and vomiting. Two people were taken to hospital while hundreds of others fell ill.

South West Water treatment works

What is South West Water doing to address the issues?

South West Water has already taken some steps to address its compliance issues.

It says it has invested more than £16 million to remedy the 21 WWTW that failed to meet requirements.

It is in the process of delivering a storm overflow reduction plan investing to reduce spills and greater oversight of its compliance with environmental obligations.

Noah Law, MP for St Austell and Newquay, has had the company’s CEO Susan Davy on ‘resignation watch’ for some time.

He said: “I think they have a long standing plan in place for different asset management periods but what I want them to do now is accelerate that pace and show they know the sense of urgency residents have around this.

“I would urge a real caution of Susan Davy as to whether she looks at taking her bonus this year after all of this news.

When asked if Davy should resign, Louise Rowe, SWW’s Director of Compliance, said: “Susan became CEO in 2020. Under her leadership SWW has significantly upheld the governance, we’ve put hundreds of millions of pounds into the wastewater activities and all of that has been recognised by Ofwat in their report that improvements have happened.”

“We will continue to make the improvements needed where wastewater activity needs it across our beautiful region.”

What has the reaction been?

In a statement, South Devon’s MP Caroline Voaden said “this decision should have come a lot sooner”.

She said “Today’s announcement closes a sorry tenure as CEO of South West Water where Ms. Davy oversaw shocking levels of sewage spills, plummeting customer confidence, and a water contamination event that sent people to hospital.

“In truth, this decision should have come a lot sooner. The shocking report from Ofwat was clearly the straw that broke the camel’s back, and for me, epitomised the negligent attitude SWW has shown to the environment and its customers in the past five years.

“I look forward to meeting the new CEO of SWW when they are announced, and I hope they can learn from the systematic mistakes Ms Davy made throughout her time in post.”

A £24m enforcement package for South West Water has been proposed after a three year investigation into its failures in managing wastewater treatment works and sewer networks.

Georgina Barnes www.bbc.co.uk

The Water Services Regulation Authority (Ofwat) said South West Water (SWW) had “recognised its failures” including failing to build and operate wastewater treatment works and sewer networks and not meeting its legal obligations.

Last month, one of SWW’s treatment works was the source of pollution that killed thousands of fish in a Cornish river.

SWW said it had proposed the “ringfenced investment programme” to be “funded by the company and shareholders and not our customers” – it had faced paying a fine of up to £19m.

The enforcement package will see £20m invested from 2025 to 2030 to reduce spills from specific storm overflows, the creation of a £2m local fund to tackle sewer misuse and misconnections and £2m to support environmental groups to deliver local improvements.

‘Put things right’

In January, the company announced plans to almost double its investment in the environment to £2.5bn between 2025 and 2030.

SWW CEO Susan Davy said it would take the necessary steps to address the failures Ofwat had identified.

She said: “I have always said that when things go wrong, it is how we respond and put things right and that is exactly what we are doing.

“In response to Ofwat’s findings, we have proposed a ringfenced investment programme of £24m to spend more to further reduce spills, tackle sewer misuse and establish a Nature Recovery Fund.

“This is in addition to the £760m we are already investing over the next five years to reduce the use of storm overflows across the region.”

In its investigation, Ofwat said 54% of SWW’s wastewater treatment works storm overflows had spilled on 20 or more occasions between 2020 and 2024.

It said SWW had “failed to demonstrate” the spills had happened in exceptional circumstances but said the company had already taken steps to address the operation of a range of its treatment works and storm overflows.

Lynn Parker, senior director for enforcement at Ofwat, said water companies would always be “held to account” if they failed to meet legal obligations.

She said: “Our investigation found a range of failures in how South West Water has gone about managing its wastewater business.

“As we continue to progress our sector-wide investigation, we are pleased that companies like South West Water are stepping up to acknowledge their failures and to put things right.

“We will continue to monitor the company to ensure that this work is carried out as quickly as possible so that customer confidence can begin to be restored.”

A consultation will be held to the public and key stakeholders before Ofwat’s final decision.

SWW Tanker operations resume in Exmouth – can’t blame the rain!

Earlier this week tankers have resumed operations taking sewage from the Maer Road pumping station holding tank to the sewage treatment plant at Maer Lane. 

10 or 11 tankers are waiting in line, part of the car park has been coned off and the operation seems to be continuing 24 hours. 

It is classed as an emergency but EDDC do not believe pollution to the beach is involved.

Simon Jupp, SWW Director of Communications, is a source of information and reassurance. – Owl

See latest post on:

Update on Snouts in the Water Trough

Susan Davy lands total annual pay package of £803,000 for 2024/25 despite losses

Holly Williams (Extract) www.independent.co.uk

The boss of South West Water owner Pennon has picked up a near-£200,000 share bonus despite the firm racking up losses after a water contamination crisis and amid painful bill hikes.

The water firm’s annual report revealed that chief executive Susan Davy was handed £191,000 in long-term share awards, with a total annual pay package of £803,000.

She had already faced criticism from MPs when she revealed in February that her pay had risen to £511,000 in 2024-25, from £492,000 the previous year in the wake of a parasite outbreak in Devon and rising cases of sewage spills.

Pennon, which also owns supplier SES Water, recently reported losses widening to £72.7 million for the year to the end of March from £9.1 million losses the previous year.

Last year’s incident in Brixham, south Devon, cost it about £21 million and pushed it deeper into an annual loss……

Thames Water Under Fire After Emergency Loan used to pay bonuses

Teddy Cambosa (Extract) www.ibtimes.co.uk 

Britain’s largest water utility, Thames Water, is embroiled in a financial scandal after revelations that the debt-laden company diverted funds from a £3 billion emergency loan to pay £2.46 million in ‘extravagant’ bonuses to senior managers, despite teetering on the brink of nationalisation.

A report from The Guardian stated that Thames Water used funds from an emergency loan to pay £2.46 million in bonuses to 21 managers, despite the loan being intended to keep the troubled company afloat.

These managers will receive the same payout in December and another £10.8 million next June, according to a letter from Chair Sir Adrian Montague to MPs, noting that the payments average over twice the recipients’ annual salaries.

It is worth noting that Thames Water paused the bonus plan in May after it was discovered that Montague had incorrectly informed MPs that creditors required the payouts. Ministers aimed to block such bonuses, but existing legislation only applies to top executives, leaving these significant retention payments legally unaffected…..