13 Mar 2024
A joint statement between DLUHC, Defra, the Environment Agency and Greater Cambridge councils (Cambridge City and South Cambridgeshire districts) sets out the government’s position on addressing concerns raised about water scarcity issues in the Greater Cambridge area, which have led to a sizeable number of sites remaining in the planning process. This is published alongside […]
13 Mar 2024
Ofwat is consulting on a £400m Innovation Fund for AMP8. The plan is to keep the annual Water Breakthrough Challenge ‘Catalyst’ and ‘Transform’ competitions for water companies, but to boost the value to £250m. The remaining £150m would be split between two rounds of the Water Discovery Challenge for external innovators; a new stream for strategic […]
13 Mar 2024
The Environment Agency (EA) consultation on charge proposals for water quality permits closed this week. the proposals would see charges increase significantly, especially for water companies. The Worshipful Company of Water Conservators (WCWC) has published its considered response. The WCWC welcomes the increase of resources for the Environment Agency to inspect sewage effluents and suggests […]
06 Mar 2024
The European Parliament has adopted the Nature Restoration Law. The law sets a target for the EU to restore at least 20% of the EU’s land and sea areas by 2030 and all ecosystems in need of restoration by 2050. The EU nature restoration law, agreed with member states, will restore degraded ecosystems in all […]
06 Mar 2024
Southern Water has been fined £330,000 after raw sewage escaped into a stream near Southampton for what the company admitted could have been nearly 20 hours. Almost 2,000 fish were killed as faulty equipment at a pumping station sent untreated effluent into the environment at Waltham Chase on the edge of the South Downs. Sitting […]
06 Mar 2024
A new edition of environmental SCIENTIST – the journal of the Institution of Environmental Sciences (IES) – tackles the water crisis from all angles. The issue is titled ‘Watertight Solutions’ and is now available open access. In this issue, contributors take a critical look at how water in the UK has become one of the […]
06 Mar 2024
Covered in The Independent Most of the UK’s beachgoers could be swimming in dirty waters mixed with sewage due to outdated water forecasting methods, a new study has found. With the growing popularity of coastal and wild swimming, there are increased concerns over polluted water flowing during the rainy season. But existing bathing water forecast […]
06 Mar 2024
The government has announced that 19 councils are set to be granted exceptional financial support for the next financial year. In principle support for these councils for 2024-25 is worth around £1.5bn, enabling them to use capital receipts from asset sales or borrowing to fund day-to-day costs up to that amount. Further in principle support for […]
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