The government said it has overseen a significant increase in criminal investigations of water companies allegedly violating environmental laws.

It said in a statement that the Environment Agency is studying dozens of suspected crimes, including the release of excessive pollution and insufficient water quality monitoring.

The government said that since the general election last July, regulators have hired 400 employees for this purpose, launched 81 criminal investigations and have filed lawsuits against seven companies.

Water UK, representing the Water Company, said in a statement that it should be investigated and investigated and considered if necessary.

The news comes amid public anger over river and ocean pollution. The number of pollution incidents recorded by the English Water Company was 10 years, according to data released by campaigners last month.

The increase in environmental agency inspectors is partly due to the former Conservative government’s recruitment drivers.

In February 2024, the Conservative Party said they planned to conduct quadruple inspections and hired 500 employees to conduct inspections and enforce the law.

None of the 81 investigations have resulted in convictions so far, which usually takes years to go through the court system. But the government said they could result in water companies being fined hundreds of millions of pounds.

"The Labor government is cleaning up records of criminal records for water companies that could cause bosses to commit crimes behind jail," said Environment Minister Steve Reed.

The Conservatives defended their records, a spokesman said in the government it began the process of reforming water and sewage systems and took action to ban bonuses for water companies that committed criminal violations.

The spokesman said: "The Labour government has made a huge promise on the water and we will continue to blame them to ensure they continue to go to the work of the Conservative government to improve the advertiser's water and sewage system."

"It's great to see the government finally take water pollution seriously," said James Wallace, CEO of the campaigner River Operations.

But he pointed out that the water boss can only be imprisoned for obstructing the investigation, not contaminating itself.

"The prison time for water bosses is still impossible," he said. "The law only applies to cover-ups and there is no need to hide what has happened in the sight of a week, a week, a week."

In 2019, Southern Water was punished a record £126 million for spills from its sewage plant leaking into the environment and intentionally misleading its performance.

"The water company has avoided violations and pumped sewage into our rivers for too long, so it's great to see ministers finally throwing the book to these serial polluters," said Ami McCarthy, political director at Greenpeace UK.

She also urged the government to ensure that consumers do not pay any bills issued to water companies for fines.

"The right thing is that when problems arise, the water company was investigated and considered," Water UK said in a statement.

“Almost 99% of sewage and water treatment work meets its (pollution limit) license, and we focus on reaching 100%.