Demonstrating a welcome shift in attitude from the Government on water quality, Ministers have agreed with the majority of the recommendations in the Environmental Audit Committee report, Water quality in rivers.

• Read the Government Response
• Read the Report: Water Quality in Rivers
• Inquiry: Water Quality in Rivers
• Environmental Audit Committee

The Government and the water industry regulator Ofwat accept that the next water industry price review process has needed to prioritise long term investment in the sewerage network, to take better account for natural capital and to increase the use of nature-based solutions. This paves the way for a major upgrade of England’s overloaded Victorian sewerage infrastructure.

The Government says that it is committed to improving monitoring of water quality, through measures introduced to the Environment Act. Ministers support industry-funded research to understand better the chemical cocktail coursing through waterways as a critical pre-cursor to cleaning up our rivers.

Read more here

Read the government’s statement here

according to Guy Thomson, former Head of Green Alliance and group director of environmental futures at Wessex Water, the government urgently needs to rethink its water strategy. He argues for a new approach in this blog.