Lib Dem leader Ed Davey says party would abolish Ofwat

Reported in The Times

Water companies are routinely able to dump sewage in rivers in England and Wales because the regulator is “pointless” and lacks real teeth, the leader of the Liberal Democrats has said.

Sir Ed Davey said Ofwat should be replaced with a “proper watchdog” that will do whatever is necessary to clean up rivers. An analysis by the Liberal Democrats found that Ofwat’s three top-rated companies dumped sewage into rivers 177,000 times in 2021 for a combined total of 1.2 million hours.