Advert highlighting plans to tackle sewage spills failed to adequately explain Wessex Water's own record on sewage pollution, ASA rules
Wessex Water has been rapped over a TV ad that promoted its plans to upgrade sewage infrastructure, on the grounds it failed to highlight the company's role in releasing sewage into the environment.
In a decision published this morning, the Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) ordered the firm to not run the ad again in its current form, and to take steps to ensure future environmental claims "were adequately qualified and future ads did not omit material information about the environmental impact of Wessex Water".
The ad in question featured shots of a tree-lined river and a person in a wetland inspecting a water sample, as the voiceover highlighted Wessex Water's plan to invest £3m a month to tackle sewage spills into waterways during periods of heavy rainfall, including through the construction of more storm tanks. The voiceover stated that "a better way for our waterways is already underway", and concluded with the words "Wessex Water - for you, for life".
The ASA said the ad's imagery and voiceover gave the impression some environmental benefits were already being achieved through Wessex Water's steps to improve water management and systems. It also ruled the advert omitted relevant information about the company's poor record on sewage discharges and environmental management.
The Environmental Protection Agency's (EPA) most recent assessment of Wessex Water gave the water company an overall rating of two out of four stars for its compliance with its permits for sewage discharges into waterways, and an amber status for the number of sewage pollution incidents in its area, meaning it had performed below the targets set by the watchdog. In May 2023, Wessex was fined £280,000 for supplying water unfit for human consumption for a three-week period in 2021.
"We accepted that Wessex Water's activities in the area of storm overflows would likely result in improvements to their environmental impact," the ASA ruling stated. "However, because their storm overflow problems had also caused harm to the environment, reflected in the most recent EPA rating, which contradicted the overall impression of the ad, we considered that was significant information which should have been made clear in the ads."
In its response, Wessex Water said the ad did not include any broad claims about environmental performance but considered the specific issue of storm overflows and how Wessex Water intended to address the issue. It added the claim there was "a better way for our waterways" did not constitute an environmental improvement statement and noted that "for you, for life" had been the company strapline since 2019.
A spokesperson for the water company said it was "disappointed" with the ASA's ruling, which it noted had been triggered by a single complaint lodged with the regulator. "Independent customer research shows that public reaction to the advert was overwhelmingly positive, with 85 per cent of more than 500 customers surveyed feeling that we are taking positive action to tackle overflows," they said. "We acknowledge that past environmental performance has fallen below our expectations and we have taken steps to address this."
The ruling is not the first time the ASA had banned water company ads for omitting information about their history of releasing sewage into the environment. Last year, it ruled against two ads by Anglian Water and Severn Trent Water on similar grounds.
It comes as water regulator Ofwat tomorrow prepares to publish its formal response to water companies' business plans for 2025 to 2030, which propose significant price hikes for consumer water bills.
The water industry has argued sharp increases in bills are needed to enable much needed investment in new sewage plants, reservoirs, and infrastructure to stop sewage spills into waterways, meet demand from a growing population, and bolster resilience in the face of escalating flood and drought risks.
But critics have accused the industry of trying to pass on the costs of tackling the sewage crisis on to consumers, after handing out tens of billions of pounds in dividends to shareholders over the last decade and racking up tens of billions of pounds in debt.
The ruling against Anglian Water is part of a broader crackdown on unsubstantiated or decontextualised 'green' claims in advertising. It comes on the same day as the ASA ruled against an ad that argued the expansion of Luton Airport would be "stopped in its tracks" if "environmental limits" were breached, concluding the ad misled consumers about the climate impact of the plans.
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