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 […]
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 […]
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 […]
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 […]
Environment Secretary Thérèse Coffey has demanded water companies share plans on improving Britain’s water infrastructure, a Defra press release has stated. The fresh move is part of the drive for better water quality, building on significant work with industry and regulators, allowing government to track progress of investment and new projects. The Environment Secretary has […]
The Consumer Council for Water’s (CCW) fourth Testing the Waters report, which looks at how business customers in England and Wales feel about the water, sewerage and retail services they receive, is published. The research, conducted every two years, shows that overall satisfaction has declined for both water and sewerage services – from 91% to […]
Ofwat has published its annual assessment of company operational performance and a summary of the financial resilience of companies. Both the Water Company Performance report 2021-22 and the Monitoring Financial Resilience report 2021-22 have identified areas where water companies are letting down their customers, and the environment. Water company performance report 2021-22 Northumbrian Water, Southern […]
On 18 November 2021, the Environment Agency (EA) and Ofwat announced separate major investigations into possible unauthorised discharges at thousands of wastewater treatment works. The Environment Agency is now investigating more than 2,200 wastewater treatment works (WWTW) that discharge into English waters. This relates to all water and sewage companies. The Environment Agency’s initial assessment indicates that […]