Southern Water was fined more than £70,000 last year for an "unacceptable" number of pollution failures.

Only three other businesses in England had to pay out more for environmental offences last year and Southern Water had the worst record of all water companies.

The Environment Agency singles out the firm in its Spotlight On Business report published today.

The report lists fines totalling £73,200 the Worthing-based company paid for nine pollution offences between March and November last year, almost nine times the national average.

The company has since been fined £19,000 more - £10,000 for a raw sewage leak into the River Adur, near Horsham, in May last year and £9,000 for a similar leak into Shinewater Lake in Eastbourne the following month.

Neither offence is included in today's report, which nevertheless highlighted disturbing cases, including two sewer collapses, two sewer bursts and two breakdowns at pumping stations.

Howard Davidson, the agency's regional director for the South, said: "Southern Water's performance has been disappointing but sadly reflects the general performance of the industry.

"We are working to help Southern Water reduce the number of serious pollution incidents that occur.

"On many occasions, Southern Water informs us when there has been an incident, which helps us to work together on the clean-up operation sooner."

The most recent prosecution was for an alarm failure at the firm's Cooden Sea Road pumping station in Bexhill.

Southern Water was fined £3,700 by Hastings magistrates last November.

It was, however, the only prosecution for pollution at a Southern Water site in Sussex highlighted in the report.

The May 2003 Horsham leak came after rodents chewed through a cable to an alarm which should have sounded after pumps failed at the unmanned Stakers Lake station.

The following month's leak was blamed on a faulty valve at Southern Water's Polegate pumping station, which mistakenly released wastewater from a tank into Mill Ditch, which feeds Shinewater Lake.

Southern Water promised to spend £542 million during the next five years to refurbish and replace more than 150 wastewater treatment works.

And in proposals submitted to regulatory body Ofwat for approval, Southern Water wants to spend an extra £93 million to replace ageing underground sewers.

Southern Water managing director Stuart Derwent said: "We very much regret any pollution incidents and apologise for them. They are unacceptable and we are determined to do something about them.

"However, while we regret any pollution incident, it is also important to retain a sense of proportion.

"All the incidents in the agency's report were short-lived and all but one did not result in any long-term environmental damage.

"Meanwhile, our huge investment continues to bring about wide-scale environmental improvements."

Southern Water runs 2,400 works and pumping stations and has a 21,000km network of sewers dealing with 1,400 million litres from more than four million people each day.

The report did find that most businesses in the Southern region had better environmental records than elsewhere in the country.

The figures include all companies fined more than £10,000 for environmental offences last year.

Only four were highlighted in the South - the second fewest in the country - compared to 15 in the Midlands and 12 in the North-West.

Tuesday July 27, 2004