The Environment, Food and Rural Affairs Committee has published a new report, Regulation of the Water Industry.

It says that Droughts of the type experienced in summer 2018 will become more frequent and drought resilience will require increasing the supply of water alongside reducing demand. The Committee found that a “shocking” three billion litres of water are leaked every day and believes that targets to reduce leakage by 15% by 2025 are not ambitious enough.

Among the Report’s recommendations to Government are:

• By the end of 2019, amend regulations to allow all water companies to implement compulsory metering, using smart meters.
• Water industry should collectively be aiming to reduce leakage by 50% by 2040, rather than 2050.
• Ofwat should review how the complaints process within water companies could be streamlined. This could include a mechanism whereby water companies either automatically pay complainants a fixed sum or escalate complaints to CCWater if the complaint is not resolved by the company within 15 days.
• Review whether the Environment Agency has the necessary powers and resources to enforce a drastic reduction in sewage overflows into rivers.

It also calls for targets to reduce per capita consumption and says the government should commission an independent review of whether the water industry and regulation are fit to meet future needs such as drought resilience, as well as delivering value for money for customers.

Read the report here.