27 Jan 2025

The Worshipful Company of Water Conservators (WCWC) has set out its concerns that there is no overarching strategy pulling all the elements of water conservation together in the United Kingdom and that current developments in policy and regulation are evolving as a patchwork of silos, often inconsistent, not linking together, or to what is in […]

08 Jan 2025

Campaign group 38 Degrees is encouraging people to share their views on sewage by participating in a consultation that was covered in this newsletter before Christmas and relates to the Public Bill Committee, which has asked for written evidence on the Water (Special Measures) Bill by Thursday 16 January.   Photo credit: Karen Laårk Boshoff   […]

19 Dec 2024

The Environment Agency is seeking views on updates to the guideline that water companies in England must follow when they prepare and publish their drought plans by 2027. The Agency has updated the guideline to ensure that all technical information is up to date and lessons learnt from recent research and experience of drought has […]

27 Nov 2024

The Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra) has drafted information and guidance on storm overflows, in collaboration with Ofwat and the Environment Agency. This covers existing policy and legislation, and it aims to support water and sewerage companies and the regulators in managing and regulating storm overflows in England. The associated consultation is […]

21 Nov 2024

Defra has outlined £50 million investment for internal drainage boards and set out plans to consult on a new strategic vision for floods investment. Recognising the significant impact of flooding on farmers, the government says an additional £50 million will be distributed to internal drainage boards (IDBs), the public bodies responsible for managing water levels […]

21 Nov 2024

The Environment Agency is seeking feedback on the approach to working together to review and update the river basin management plans in 2027. Working Together is the first consultation in the process of reviewing and updating the river basin management plans. It sets out the: consultation steps proposed timetable ways that you can get involved in […]

14 Nov 2024

Defra has launched a consultation on proposed reforms and technical amendments to the Bathing Water Regulations 2013.   Photo credit: Jens Meyers   The proposals include removal of automatic de-designation after 5 years of ‘poor’ water quality changes to the designation criteria of bathing sites removing the fixed dates of the bathing season from regulations […]

14 Nov 2024

The Environment Agency (EA) has published a consultation on its proposed updated national drought response framework. The EA is responsible for monitoring, reporting and acting to reduce the impact of drought on the natural environment.   Photo credit: Kazuend   The ‘Drought: how it is managed in England’ document is the updated version of the […]