24 Apr 2025
Water companies should no longer be allowed to monitor their own levels of sewage pollution, the industry body has told the BBC exclusively. Instead they are proposing a new, third-party monitoring system to build consumer trust. The recommendation is part of a submission made to the UK government’s independent review into the water […]
27 Nov 2024
Ofwat, the economic regulator for English and Welsh water companies, says it had used new powers to ensure that bonuses at the three companies were paid by shareholders and bondholders – rather than through customer bills – because the payments had not “adequately reflected overall company performance issues”. The companies are Thames, Yorkshire, and Dŵr […]
13 Aug 2024
A Conservative minister repeatedly tried to stop England’s environment regulator from publishing data showing a sharp rise in recorded sewage spills into waterways, according to emails obtained by Unearthed. The Environment Agency (EA) is obliged by law to publish annual statistics on how often overflow pipes released sewage into rivers and seas, and how long the […]
23 Jul 2024
The Environment Agency (EA) has published its annual report on the environmental performance of England’s nine water and sewerage companies during 2023. Natural Resources Wales (NRW) has published a similar report for Welsh companies. The EA report shows an improvement in star ratings under the Environmental Performance Assessment (EPA), but the majority of companies continue to […]
20 Mar 2024
Will Hutton is a political economist, author and journalist. He is an Associate of the London School of Economics and Political Science and co-Chair of The Purposeful Company. He is also President of the Academy of Social Sciences and host of its podcast The We Society. CIWEM Policy Director Alastair Chisholm sat down with him to […]
30 Jan 2024
The Environment Agency (EA) has opened a consultation on charge proposals for water quality permits. It would see charges increase significantly, especially for water companies. The EA says it is seeking to recover the full cost of services through charges. The EA has our charges to address changes in the cost of delivering services, inflationary […]
05 Oct 2023
Last week saw the publication by Ofwat of the Water Company Performance Report 2022-23, which focused on the £114mn that companies will be forced to pay back customers for poor performance. The Environment Secretary Thérèse Coffey has issued a strongly worded statement, calling the “extremely disappointing”. She says: “While I acknowledge there is good work […]
04 Apr 2023
The BBC has reported that water companies released raw sewage into rivers and seas in England for more than 1.75 million hours last year. There were an average of 825 sewage spills into waterways per day, the data shows – down 19% on the previous year. The latest data, revealed by the Environment Agency on […]
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