Yorkshire Water

Yorkshire Water is a British water supply and treatment utility company servicing West Yorkshire, South Yorkshire, the East Riding of Yorkshire, part of North Lincolnshire, most of North Yorkshire and part of Derbyshire, in England. The company has its origins in the Yorkshire Water Authority, one of ten regional water authorities created by the Water Act 1973, and privatised under the terms of the Water Act 1989, when Yorkshire Water plc, the parent company of the Yorkshire Water business, was floated on the London Stock Exchange. The parent company was Kelda Group in 1999.[5] In February 2008, Kelda Group was bought by a consortium of infrastructure funds.

It is regulated under the Water Industry Act 1991.

Area

The company's area includes West Yorkshire, South Yorkshire, the East Riding of Yorkshire, part of North Lincolnshire, most of North Yorkshire and part of Derbyshire. The area is adjoined on the north by that of Northumbrian Water, on the west by United Utilities, on the south west by Severn Trent Water and on the south by Anglian Water.[6][7] It serves 5.5 million households and 140,000 business customers,[8][9] and owns over 28000 ha of land.[10]

Environmental record

Yorkshire Water has received fines for breaches of environmental law. For example:

• Yorkshire Water was fined twice in April 2007. The first offence was for allowing polluting matter to enter Clifton Beck in Brighouse, contrary to section 85(1) of the Water Resources Act 1991.[11] The final incident killed one third of the wildlife along over a mile of the stream.[12] A further incident in the same beck led to a fine of £2,400 in 2004.[13] Yorkshire Water argued that the blockage causing the offence was caused by a third party. Eleven days later, the company was in court again to admit to breaching its discharge consent at its Neiley sewage works, Honley. The discharge consent allowed for biological oxygen demand to exceed 21 mg/L more than three times a year. The Environment Agency demonstrated that the works had breached this limit five times in 2005, resulting in a fine of £16,000 plus £754 in costs.[12]

Performance

In June 1996, Yorkshire Water was effectively fined £40 million by the regulator, Ofwat, by freezing their ability to raise bills for customers. This was a result of what Ofwat described as a "failure to deliver the standards required to consumers".[16] This fine was a result of being the most hated water company during the "year of the drought" (1995).[17] However, Yorkshire Water's performance had turned around so much so that the company was awarded the title by Utility Week magazine three years in succession while no other water company has won it more than once."[18]The company has been criticised (2022) for losing 283 million litres of water a day due to leakages. The company says that this is a 50% reduction on the period 1995/96.[3]

Customer service

Yorkshire Water ranked 11th of 21 water companies in Ofwat's 'Satisfaction by company' survey 2012/13.[29]In January 2015 the UK Customer Service Index (UKCSI) announced that Yorkshire Water was the leader for service in the Utilities sector, they were also the second most improved organisation in the whole UKCSI, beating competitors such as Severn Trent, Anglian, Thames Water as well as United Utilities and EDF.

The UKCSI is the only external measure showing the state of customer satisfaction in the UK and allows individuals to benchmark across all sectors as well as utilities.

Drinking water quality

In the year ending 31 March 2013, 99.93% of Yorkshire Water's samples met the UK standards; in the previous year it was 99.95%.[30]

Constituents

The authority created in 1974 took over the Yorkshire River Authority and the following public sector water supply utilities:[31]

• Barnsley Corporation Waterworks
• Bradford Corporation Waterworks
• Huddersfield Corporation Waterworks
• Kingston upon Hull Corporation Waterworks
• Leeds Corporation Waterworks
• Rotherham Corporation Waterworks
• Scarborough Corporation Waterworks
• Sheffield Corporation Waterworks
• Norton Urban District Council Waterworks
• Rawmarsh Urban District Council Waterworks

• Calderdale Water Board
• Claro Water Board

Reservoirs

Yorkshire Water allows recreational use of some of 113 of its 120+ reservoirs.[33][34] Activities include walking, fishing, horse riding, cycling, water sports and bird watching.[35][36] Several sailing clubs are afforded the use of certain reservoirs for their sailing activities, including Boshaw Whams, Embsay, Grimwith, Ponden, Scar House, Thornton Steward, and Warley Moor Reservoirs.[37]

Since privatisation of the water authorities in 1989, Yorkshire Water has made many of its locations accessible to the public, which not only cover water, but woodland and moorland. Walks exist around Brayton Barff, Fewston, Grimwith, Langsett, More Hall, Scammoden, Thruscross, and Undebank reservoirs.[38] Additionally, in 2008, Yorkshire Water teamed up with long-distance walking writer Mark Reid to create the

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