Water firms were found to have breached their environmental permits at one in five unannounced inspections by a green watchdog, the Express can reveal.

The Environment Agency (EA), which only began recording these unexpected checks from April last year, found 420 permit branches from 2,027 checks – this is 20%.

Anglian Water, which has been fined several times for breaches, had the highest number of violations with 105 between April 1 and December 16 last year.

James Wallace, CEO of River Action, said: “Two things here: First, it’s outrageous that the Environment Agency only started recording water company breaches at unannounced inspections in April 2024 – why wasn’t this done years ago?

“Second, the egregious scale of breaches already found begs the question: how many more go undetected? Meanwhile, these water company monopolies, with inflation-busting bill hikes recently rubber-stamped by regulators, shamelessly hand our money to the same CEOs and investors responsible for desecrating our rivers. It’s a total carve-up.

“The Government must get a grip on this crisis by giving regulators the power and resources to monitor pollution, enforce the law and make polluters clean up the mess of decades of profiteering.”

Several firms were also found to have had three permit breaches on a single visit.

This included Anglian Water, Northumbrian Water, Severn Trent and Southern Water, the data released through the Freedom for Information Act showed.

Severn Trent had a total of 67 permit breaches, followed by United Utilities with 49, Wessex Water on 44, Northumbrian Water with 38, Thames Water and South West Water had 30 each, Southern Water had 26, Yorkshire Water had 26 and Dŵr Cymru Welsh Water had five.

A permit infringement is anything where the EA identifies a breach of an environmental permit condition.

This can range from something more minor, such as an incorrect or missing signboard with no environmental impact, through to a major pollution incident caused by a complete plant failure.

Giles Bristow, chief executive of Surfers Against Sewage, said: “This is yet another shocking display of the water industry’s complete contempt for the law.

“As long as polluting pays and penalties remain pitiful, the industry will ruthlessly exploit our broken system, leaving a trail of devastated waters in its wake.

“This year, the Labour Government has a chance to ignite the beginning of the end of sewage pollution through its Water legislation and sector review. To succeed, they must break free from industry lobbying and vested interests, and stay laser-focused on protecting public health and the environment. Our wild waters depend on it, and the public demands it.”

The EA said that unannounced inspections mean the water firm gets “very short notice” to meet on a site, usually on the day itself.

Meanwhile announced inspections involve a “longer, complex inspection or audit” which requires pre-work by the company.

Minor breaches are dealt with by advice and guidance or requests to rectify problems through to prosecution for the most serious offences.

An Environment Agency spokesman said: “We take action after every permit breach and if water companies fail to act on our warnings and advice, we will investigate and take enforcement action.

“We have always carried out inspections, most of which unannounced, and this year we are planning around 10 inspections every single day, at total of 4,000 inspections on water companies.

“This is just one element of our new strengthened approach which combines more staff on the ground supported by new digital tools and intelligence-led regulation.”

A Water UK spokesman said: “Many of these permit breaches were for infringements such as problems with signage or access, with no harm caused to the environment. Issues like these are very quickly remedied by water companies with no further action taken by the Environment Agency.

“Water companies are poised to invest the largest amount of money ever spent on the natural environment to help support economic growth, build more homes, secure our water supplies and end sewage entering our rivers and seas.”