UK Gov Launches Major Water Sector Review

The government has announced that an independent commission into the water sector is due to be launched, part of the next stage in the long-term approach Parliament is adopting to ensure that the framework is strong and stable enough to attract the necessary investment that will deliver cleaner waterways, accelerate infrastructure upgrades and restore public confidence.

The commission, launched by the UK and Welsh governments, will report back in 2025 with a series of recommendations as to how best to address the sector’s systemic issues and bring rivers, lakes, streams and coastal waters back to good health, while meeting the challenges of the future and supporting economic growth.

Its objectives include identifying the appropriate measures to ensure the regulatory system establishes clear outcomes for the future, adopts a collaborative catchment approach to water management and pollution, and improves regulation to ensure better customer and environmental outcomes.

Furthermore, regulators will be empowered to hold water companies to account for water sustainability transgressions such as illegal pollution, while consumer interests and affordability will be safeguarded through transparent and fair governance.

Finally, it will recommend a series of measures to prioritise resilient infrastructure, delivering and maintaining upgrades on time in anticipation of future needs and the challenges posed by climate change.

Steve Reed, environmental secretary, said: “Our waterways are polluted and our water system urgently needs fixing. That is why today we have launched a water commission to attract the investment we need to clean up our waterways and rebuild our broken water infrastructure.

“The commission’s findings will help shape new legislation to reform the water sector so it properly serves the interests of customers and the environment.”

CEO of Rivers Trust Mark Lloyd made further comments on the news, saying: “35 years after water privatisation, this review is long overdue, which makes it even more welcome.

“Our rivers have been flatlining for far too long. Alongside the failure of our current systems to manage ageing infrastructure and population increases, they face huge strategic challenges from climate change and biodiversity decline.

“Incremental policy tweaks will not fix our water system and the review must look beyond the water industry to include land and water management in both urban and rural areas. There needs to be much more focus on delivery of cost-effective solutions, through an integrated systems approach.”

Special measures

This follows the introduction of new legislation for the water sector to crack down on companies polluting waterways, as part of the water (special measures) bill.

At the start of September, the bill was introduced to parliament, giving regulators new powers to take a tougher stance on utility firms causing damage to the environment, as well as failing their customers.

As part of a pledge to clean up the water sector, the Environment Agency will be better able to move ahead with criminal charges against water executives found to be breaking the law, with new tougher penalties created, including imprisonment, when firms obstruct investigations or fail to cooperate.

In addition, the payment of bonuses will be banned for any water bosses if high standards of environmental protection aren’t met, as well as standards related to consumers and company finances.

Under fire

Lauded as the biggest water industry shakeup since privatisation, the hope is that this new independent commission will clean up the nation’s waterways and appease public outrage over sewage discharges into the natural environment.

The news has been welcomed in some quarters but questioned in others, with policy director of Greenpeace UK Dr Dough Parr suggesting that the “transformative change” required will depend on how successfully investor demand is balanced with the commitment to enforcing more effective regulation.

“Too much emphasis on making the sector attractive to big international investors like Macquarie is the exact reason why our waterways are in such an appalling state today,” he was quoted by the Times as saying.

And Tim Farron, environmental spokesman for the Liberal Democrats, did welcome the review but added that it shouldn’t be used by the government to press pause on more immediate reforms.

The government, meanwhile, appears to see the commission as a vital step towards ensuring that the water sector continues to be attractive to investors, which will inevitably deliver cleaner rivers, lakes and streams.

For the time being, it seems as though the idea of renationalising the water sector has been shelved.