ANGLIAN Water is one of the worst-performing water companies for self-reporting pollution incidents, a new report has revealed.

The company, which is £6.6 billion in debt, has been told it needs to improve after the Environment Agency handed it a two-star rating in its annual report on Wednesday.

Anglian Water, which received the same rating in 2021, was responsible for 33 sewage pollution incidents per 10,000 kilometres.

It also caused 255 incidents in 2022, including 11 serious incidents, according to the Environment Agency.

The findings come after the water company was fined £2.65 million for dumping undischarged sewage off the coast of Jaywick, near Clacton.

Last year, the firm was also ordered to pay more than £563,000 after more than 3.9 million litres of sewage found its way into the Doddinghurst Brook, in Brentwood.

Responding to the report, Anglian Water accepted it "must do better" going forward.

A statement said: “We take our responsibility to protect, restore and improve our region’s environment incredibly seriously and fully accept that our performance must improve.

“Over the last two years, we’ve drastically changed how we operate to address more effectively the unique and complex challenges facing our region.

"This is detailed in our pollution incident reduction plan published today.

"We know that we must do better on some critical measures of environmental performance, and we remain resolutely focussed on continuing with this strategy at pace.”

In its report, the Environment Agency said it was "concerned that some companies will not or cannot change", adding that Anglian Water "repeatedly dominates serious incident numbers".