UK water firm denies polluter charges in takeover bid

A British company angling to take over management of water supplies for 500,000 West Virginia residents in the United States today denied reports it was the United Kingdom’s worst polluter for two years.

Thames Water, a subsidiary of RWE Aktiengesellschaft, paid more pollution fines than any company in the UK in 2000, according to British Environment Agency records.

The company was found guilty in 1999 of more environmental violations than any company in the UK

In the first eight months of 2002, Thames paid nearly £140,000 (€221,464) in fines and court costs for five violations, according to records.

James McGivern, Thames’s managing director, said the company regretted past mistakes, but added that those findings did not make Thames the United Kingdom’s worst polluter for two of the past three years.

“As a company, in the past, we have made mistakes. Of course. And we regret that,” McGivern told the Charleston Gazette newspaper editorial board on Friday.

RWE Aktiengesellschaft, of Essen, Germany, is negotiating to acquire the parent company of West Virginia-American Water, which serves 500,000 customers in 15 West Virginia counties.

RWE has offered to pay £3bn (€4.75bn) in cash for New Jersey-based American Water Works, the largest publicly traded US water company.

West Virginia regulators have yet to decide whether to approve Thames’ takeover of West Virginia-American Water.

The deal also is pending in seven other states, including Kentucky, where Attorney General Ben Chandler is trying to block the sale of Kentucky-American Water Company another subsidiary of American Water Works.

RWE’s £6.4bn (10.1bn) acquisition of Thames last year made the RWE the world’s third-largest water firm, behind Vivendi Environment and Suez Lyonnaise of France.