ALMOST 100 water pollution incidents were not immediately seen to in Warrington since 2018, new figures show.

A Freedom of Information Act request shows the Environment Agency is attending fewer incidents across England than before the pandemic.

The figures show there were 110 water pollution incidents in Warrington between 2018 and 2023, just 22 of which were visited immediately by Environment Agency staff.

This means they were attended within two hours of a report coming in, or within four hours outside of the normal working day – a definition set by the organisation.

Of the 88 of those not visited immediately, three were category two incidents, which are classed as having a 'significant' impact.

The remainder were category three, meaning they were judged as having a 'minor or minimal' impact on the environment.

It is unclear whether these incidents were checked at a later date or not at all.

The Environment Agency has said there are many reasons for not visiting pollution incidents straight away.

It said some incidents can be handled remotely or instead through emergency services, adding some reports come through some time after an incident has taken place.

Nationally, the agency attended 36 per cent of incidents within the timeframe in 2018 and 34 per cent in 2019, but this dropped to 20 per cent in 2020, only climbing back to 27 per cent last year.

An Environment Agency spokesman said: “We assess and record every incident report we receive – between 70,000 and 100,000 a year.

“We respond to every incident and always attend those where there is a significant risk.”

Despite this, seven 'major' and 88 'significant' events were not attended within the agency's target timeframe in 2023, a rise on three and 58 incidents respectively the year before.

There were 21 water pollution events registered in Warrington last year, eight of which were linked to a water company.

Water companies nationally were responsible for more than 2,300 incidents in 2023.

A spokesman for industry body Water UK said: “No pollution incident is ever acceptable, and this is why water companies have proposed to invest £105billion – a near-doubling of current levels – to upgrade our network.”

The Environment Agency also said: “We take our responsibility to protect the environment very seriously, and we will always pursue and prosecute companies that are deliberately obstructive or misleading.

“While criminal prosecutions can be lengthy processes, since 2015 we have concluded 63 prosecutions against water companies, securing fines of more than £151million.”

“The Water (Special Measures) Bill will make it easier for us to take enforcement action and build on our ongoing work to deliver our biggest transformation in the way we regulate,” the spokesman added.

The agency said it is recruiting more staff, increasing compliance checks and water company inspections, and visiting more water pollution incidents.