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Government, Policy & Regulation

Southern Water to face EFRA Committee following price review and water outages

Southern Water will be the first water company to appear before MPs to discuss the reasons for, and its response to, the water outages...

Ofwat approves £104bn upgrade for the water sector

Ofwat has approved a £104bn upgrade for the water sector as part of its final determinations in the PR24 process, which sets investment plans,...

Ofwat finds Thames Water has broken dividend payment rules and proposes £18m penalty

Ofwat has announced its proposed decision which finds Thames Water to be in breach of its obligations under Licence Condition P30. In October 2023, Thames...

MPs launch new inquiry to scrutinise the breadth of issues confronting the water sector

The Environment, Food and Rural Affairs Committee (EFRA) is launching a new inquiry, Reforming the Water Sector, to scrutinise the breadth of issues confronting...

Water companies to be forced to double compensation for failures

The Government has confirmed that water customers around the country will benefit from significantly higher payments to compensate them for water company service failures. Following public...

OEP investigation concludes Defra, EA and Ofwat failed to comply with environmental law in relation to sewage discharges

The Office for Environmental Protection (OEP) has concluded that there have been failures to comply with environmental law by the Department for Environment, Food...

ICO calls for all water companies to publish sewage discharge data

The Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) is calling on all water companies to proactively publish information relating to sewage discharges each month.   Water companies have a...

SEPA unveils new method to detect chemicals in water environment

The Scottish Environment Protection Agency (SEPA) has introduced an innovative new approach to water sampling to improve the identification and monitoring of chemicals in...

EAC to examine flood resilience as homes and businesses recover from more flooding misery in recent weeks

Flooding events bring misery to communities: and it appears to be getting worse. Records are being broken with Storm Babet, in October 2023, causing some...

The Water Industry Commission for Scotland addresses previously identified weaknesses in latest annual report

The Water Industry Commission for Scotland (WICS) has published its 2023-24 Annual Report and Accounts which is accompanied by a Section 22 report from the Auditor General. This...

Anglian Water fined £300,000 for sewage pollution in Norfolk

Following a successful prosecution by the Environment Agency, Anglian Water has been fined £300,000 for illegally discharging sewage into a watercourse that feeds into...

Scottish Water served £6,000 civil penalty for polluting Dunfermline burn

Scottish Water has been served a civil penalty of £6,000 by Scotland’s environmental regulator for breaching a condition of its licence after a discharge...

Water Industry Commission for Scotland says Scottish Water has improved its performance but is not meeting some of its own targets

The Water Industry Commission for Scotland (WICS) has published its latest performance report on Scottish Water. In the report, the economic regulator of the...

Regulation must keep pace with current and emerging industries and be agile, says Natural Resources Wales, as it publishes its annual regulation report

Regulation must keep pace with current and emerging industries and be agile to the challenges driven by the climate, nature and pollution emergencies, Natural...

Anaerobic digestion company fined more than £300,000 following explosion

A company which produces electricity from food waste by anaerobic digestion, has been fined more than £300,000 after an explosion caused two employees to...

Ofwat and CCW issue warning after customers whose homes were hit by sewer flooding feel let down and abandoned

New research by Ofwat and the Consumer Council for Water (CCW), that questioned customers whose homes were flooded with sewage, shows wastewater companies must...

£600,000 payment by Severn Trent Water to Trent Rivers Trust following pollution incident

The Environment Agency has accepted an Enforcement Undertaking from Severn Trent Water after a pumping station fault caused pollution along 1 kilometre of a...

Letter to Chief Secretary on work to inform ten-year infrastructure strategy

National Infrastructure Commission Chair Sir John Armitt has written to the Chief Secretary to the Treasury, the Rt Hon Darren Jones MP, to set...

92% of English bathing waters meet water quality standards but more still needs to be done

Figures released this week reveal that 92% of bathing waters in England have met minimum water quality standards, with 85% of bathing waters being...

Judicial Review call launched against approved Abingdon reservoir

The Campaign to Protect Rural England (CPRE) and SAFERwaterS, formerly GARD, have issued a call for a Judicial Review (JR) of the Government’s decision...

Environment Secretary holds meeting with Environment Agency to bolster Storm Bert response

Secretary of State Steve Reed has held a meeting with Environment Agency Chief Executive Philip Duffy to discuss the response to the flooding and...

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