10 Apr 2024
According to a survey of almost 1,300 staff conducted by the GMB union with the results reported in the Guardian, more than one in three UK water employees have been verbally abused at work. The results show that Workers complained that they had faced “very hostile” abuse from the public One employee said they had […]
27 Mar 2024
Heavy rainfall in the autumn and winter is thought to be behind the huge increase in raw sewage discharges just announced by the Environment Agency. Latest figures show more than 4m hours of discharges were poured into rivers and seas last year, a 129% increase on the previous 12 months. Total discharges from the 14,000 […]
26 Mar 2024
Water UK has published details of the English water companies’ updated strategy to cut storm overflow spills between 2025 and 2050. The National Storm Overflows Plan provides a national overview of company proposals, and an interactive map detailing the action planned for each individual overflow. Phase one runs between 2025 and 2030 and will triple […]
26 Mar 2024
Interesting and topical piece from the FT Londoners concerned with how to improve their water supplies should look to the developing world city of Phnom Penh. Back in 1993, 72 per cent of treated water in the Cambodian capital was lost by leaky pipes. Twelve years later, the leakage rate had fallen to 8 per […]
20 Mar 2024
Water companies in England and Wales have almost doubled their profits since 2019. During this parliament, which started in 2019, pre-tax profits at water companies have climbed by 82%, according to a Liberal Democrat analysis of Companies House data. It found that in 2022-23, England’s water firms made £1.7bn in pre-tax profits. This is up […]
28 Feb 2024
A letter from the Chief Executive of the Environment Agency (EA), Philip Duffy, outlines the approach the agency will take with increasing inspections of water company assets. He highlights that depending on the outcome of the water quality charges consultation, and securing the funding needed, the EA plans to more than quadruple the number of […]
14 Feb 2024
The Environment Secretary has announced that water bosses are set to be banned from receiving bonuses if a company has committed serious criminal breaches. Ofwat will be taking forward a consultation to define the criteria for a ban. That could include successful prosecution for a Category 1 or 2 pollution incident – such as causing […]
30 Jan 2024
The Times reports that Defra ministers have told water company bosses they will no longer “mark their own homework” on whether they are illegally polluting rivers, in a shift in how the sector is regulated. Private water companies have to run checks to ensure they are meeting permits issued by the Environment Agency about how […]
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