Overview

• The allocation draws on fines from five firms: Anglian (£3,085,000), Thames (£3,334,000), South West (£2,150,000), Yorkshire (£1,600,750) and United Utilities (£800,000).
• Funding covers actions such as riverbed restoration in Exmoor, tackling septic tank spills affecting Windermere, wetland creation, nutrient capture and improvements to fish passage.
• Defra issued the grants through the Water Restoration Fund, set up to ring-fence penalties for environmental work rather than return them to the Treasury.
• Selected awards include £1.2m for floodplain and river restoration on the River Witham in Lincolnshire and a project for river recovery in the Evenlode catchment in Oxfordshire.
• The fines stem from pollution incidents between April 2022 and October 2023, and the government says further penalties will continue to be channelled into clean-up projects as part of wider water industry reforms, including banning bosses’ bonuses and a planned abolition of Ofwat.