The Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, Steve Barclay, has written to water companies asking them to improve maintenance programmes to ensure these are not a cause of storm overflow discharges. He highlights this is a legal requirement that water companies should already be delivering and states his plans to closely follow […]
The National Drought Group has reiterated the importance of sectors continuing to plan and invest for all weather events, despite third wettest autumn this century. Drought experts have highlighted the need to continue investing and preparing for droughts to ensure England is in the best possible position to deal with extreme weather events and a […]
The Environment Agency (EA) has published the results of a review of the current scientific knowledge about drought in the UK. There is also a blog about the research. It includes how drought may alter due to climate change, and what the implications are for both the catchment environment and the way we manage water […]
96% of bathing waters in England have met minimum standards, with 90% of bathing waters in England being rated as ‘good’ or ‘excellent’, continuing to show an overall boost in water quality over the last decade, Defra and the Environment Agency (EA) have announced. This compares with just 28% being rated as ‘good’ or ‘excellent’ […]
The Environment Agency (EA) has cut its forecast for the number of additional properties that will be better protected from flooding by 40% since plans were first unveiled in 2020, according to a new report by the National Audit Office. EA estimates that inflation accounts for between a half and two-thirds of this reduction. Resilience […]
Communities are being urged by the Environment Agency to make sure they know their flood risk amid increased extreme weather events. After this year’s record-breaking weather, the Agency launched its annual awareness campaign – Flood Action Week – as making just one small change can reduce the effects on homes and families and even save […]
The Environment Agency has provided an update in its national investigation into potential breaches of permit conditions at wastewater treatment works by water and sewerage companies. The Agency has completed site visits, covering flow systems and monitors, maintenance regimes, management practices and site diaries. It is now moving on to the data analysis stage, but the […]
The Environment Agency (EA) claims that an estimated 96,000 properties have been protected and as part of the EA’s response to flooding caused by Storm Babet. Further, twenty high volume pumps and five small volume pumps were deployed across several sites. The EA’s flood warning service sent out over 300,000 messages by email, telephone and […]