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What Is The Government Doing To Clean Up The Water Sector?

The UK’s water network has served the nation well since the late 18th century or thereabouts, which is when piped water was supplied to the majority of the country.

Every day, more than 50 million domestic and commercial properties receive water, sanitation and drainage services across England and Wales which, undoubtedly, is no mean feat and certainly something to be celebrated.

However, over the last few years the sector has come increasingly under fire because of water mismanagement issues and pollution incidents, the latter of which seem to be becoming more commonplace as time goes on, with insufficient infrastructure upgrades being implemented to address the public’s very real concerns.

Now that we have a new government heading up the country, it will be interesting to see what changes are brought in that could help revolutionise the sector and make it fit for purpose once again, ensuring that the system is resilient in the face of climate change and capable of serving the needs of a growing population.

Labour in action

Earlier this month (September), Downing Street announced that it would be taking action to clean up the nation’s rivers, lakes and seas, with plans including new legislation to hold water bosses to account, proper compensation when services are disrupted, essential infrastructure upgrades and cracking down on sewage dumping.

Legislation

The first step that Keir Starmer’s Labour government is taking to deliver a step change for the water industry is to introduce a new bill that aims to strengthen regulation and enforce tough measures for water companies, with enforcement powers significantly increased to allow regulators to implement faster and tougher action if companies damage the environment and fail their customers.

The water (special measures) bill will see new tougher penalties created, including potential imprisonment, for executives if water firms fail to cooperate or obstruct investigations. Bonuses will also be banned if bosses fail to meet the necessary standards to protect the environment, consumers and the company’s finances.

Steve Reed, environment secretary, said at the start of the month: “Under this government, water executives will no longer line their own pockets whilst pumping out this filth. If they refuse to comply, they could end up in the dock and face prison time.

“This bill is a major step forward in our wider reform to fix the broken water system. We will outline further legislation to fundamentally transform how the water industry is run and speed up the delivery of upgrades to our sewage infrastructure to clean up our waterways for good.”

Other measures will include automatic and potentially severe fines for various offences, including ensuring that regulators can hand out penalties more quickly without having to conduct lengthy investigations.

Independent monitoring of every sewage outlet will also be implemented and water companies will be required to publish real-time data on all emergency combined sewer overflows. Companies will also have to report all discharges within one hour of the initial spill.

Compensation

A consultation on measures to ensure that water companies will provide proper compensation to consumers for poor customer service has been launched.

The proposals include an approximate doubling of compensation payments on their current levels, as well as broadening the range of circumstances that can trigger these payments, including when boil notices are issued… important given that there was a spate of such incidents earlier in the year, including in Brixham where cryptosporidium was found in the water supply.

Sewage dumping/infrastructure upgrades

New measures have also been set out to slash sewage spills and ensure that investment is attracted in order to carry out infrastructure upgrades.

Steps include ringfencing funding so that it only goes on those upgrades that will deliver benefits for both customers and the environment, with any money leftover returned to customers’ pockets.

Consumers will also be able to hold executives to account through the use of new customer panels, which will allow people to summon board members for questioning so that they can rest assured that customer obligations are being met.

To help the country move forward with its infrastructure upgrades, industry regulator Ofwat has proposed a spending package of £88 billion by water companies, with £35 billion of this going towards reducing pollution and improving customer service and river/bathing water quality, as well as building climate change resilience into the network as a whole.

What role can businesses play?

While there may not be much that businesses can do to make a difference where water company behaviour is concerned, there is a lot that can be done to reduce pressure on resources and protect the wider network, improving your organisation’s water footprint and saving you money at the same time.

If you’d like to find out more about water efficiency and how you can make a difference, get in touch with the H2o Building Services team today.