(by Karma Loveday) Phosphorous removal at sewage treatment works is having a positive effect on the ecological health of rivers, according to a study from the Environment Agency and University of Stirling . Reduced phosphorus levels and improved ecological indicators were both strongly associated with rivers in eutrophic sensitive areas, where significant investment in phosphorus removal at sewage treatment works has occurred. Thirty of 38 sites showed dual improvement. Busi

(by Karma Loveday) A new report has recommended that additional regulation is considered to support the critical and emerging data centre sector, while safeguarding water resources. The WRc research, funded by the Strategic Panel’s Market Improvement Fund, advocated the following: A reporting framework including policy interventions to enable easier benchmarking of data centre water use. This would consist of mandatory, centralised reporting of (at least a subset of) the metr

(by Verity Mitchell) Anglian Water Services Financing has confirmed that it will discontinue the engagement of S&P as one of its external credit rating agencies providing ratings coverage. This is subject to the successful redemption in full of £200m of guaranteed bonds due in 2029, which included a requirement to maintain rating coverage from S&P.  The proposed discontinuance follows an internal review of the resource demands involved in supporting a third rating. The compan

(by Karma Loveday) Microsoft is about to launch a free digital skills training programme for women in the water sector. TechHer for Water is part of Microsoft’s National Skills Initiative and is delivered in partnership with the UK Government. All women in water are invited to sign up for five 90-minute online sessions running on dates throughout April. These cover: Cloud AI Power Platform Copilot and Agents Security essentials Microsoft said the programme is “by women, for

(by Karma Loveday) The Water Innovation Implementation Programme — a new part of the Ofwat Innovation Fund — opened for applications last week. It is designed to help move innovations from successful trials to implementation at scale. Formally open until 2030, the programme is initially being run as a trial with a review point scheduled for March 2027. £40m is available across two streams:  The Early Adopter & Fast Follower stream: Applicants can request £100,000 — £1m   in

(by Karma Loveday) If the construction industry is to deliver the Government’s Ten Year Infrastructure Strategy, urgent improvements are needed in supply chain capacity, innovation and collaboration. That’s according to the Institution of Civil Engineers’ (ICE) 2026 State of the Nation report. Following a series of roundtables and interviews with water, energy and transport experts, the ICE made the following recommendations:  Supply chain capacity and productivity —  Westmi

(by Verity Mitchell) Thames Water has made a new request for more funds and more flexibility in disbursement under its emergency facilities. So far, it has drawn £1.426bn of the initial £1.5bn available under the super senior facility agreed with its A creditors. On the 12 February, Thames launched a process to allocate £823m of additional funds — the first part of an ‘Accordion’ facility of £1.5bn. Thames has now secured this initial funding commitment. This brings the tota

(by Karma Loveday) The Office for Environmental Protection (OEP) has said Defra’s response to its report on implementation of environmental laws relating to protected land and freshwater sites for nature is “disappointing and will not deliver the urgent action needed”. OEP chief executive Natalie Prosser explained: “In our report, published in December, we concluded that the legal framework was adequate but was not being implemented effectively, or at the pace and scale neede

(by Karma Loveday) Northern Ireland’s (NI) minister for agriculture, environment and rural affairs Andrew Muir has set out eight interventions planned to strengthen regulation and enforcement for wastewater pollution. In a Ministerial Statement in the NI Assembly, he shared the following intentions:  Legislating for stronger fines and penalties —  “I intend to introduce a Fisheries and Water Environment Bill in May to modernise enforcement powers by increasing the maximum fin

(by Karma Loveday) Defra is to bring forward secondary legislation with accompanying guidance to update the WaterSure scheme, but with some adjustments to the proposals it consulted on last summer. The department consulted between 21 July and 1 September on the following proposed changes to the national affordability scheme, which currently caps bills for low-income households on means-tested benefits who need to use high levels of water — because they have either a qualifyin

(by Karma Loveday) Further evidence of the patchwork experience of customers who are struggling to pay their water bills has been revealed by the Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (EFRA) Committee. It used its unique position to quiz the 11 water and sewerage companies on their approach to customers in arrears, including use of bailiffs and debt enforcement policy for vulnerable customers. This revealed that companies are taking very different approaches. Bailiffs, or enfor

(by Verity Mitchell) South West Water has pleaded guilty to an offence under the Water Industry Act 1991 for supplying water unfit for human consumption. The hearing at Exeter Magistrates Court was a result of the water contamination at Brixham from cryptosporidium. The Drinking Water Inspectorate brought the prosecution case following the incident in May 2024 when hundreds of South West Water’s customers became ill. The subsequent ‘boil water’ notice remained in place for ei

(by Verity Mitchell) Ofwat has proposed a £22m fine for South East Water following an investigation into multiple supply disruptions between 2020 and 2023. This represents 8% of the company’s turnover. The investigation found that the company failed to plan sufficiently, learn from incidents and conduct root cause analysis to maintain resilience within its water supply system, and was therefore unable to cope during periods of high demand or extreme weather. Furthermore, the

(by Karma Loveday) Water minister Emma Hardy’s vision for water in 2050 features widespread reuse, nature-based solutions, data-driven insights and embedded innovation. “Above all, it recognises water as a strategic national asset — essential to public health, environmental protection and economic growth. An asset that must be effectively managed for the long term.” Hardy set out this stall last week at the World Water Tech Summit in London. She said: “Our vision for 2050 is

(by Karma Loveday) Scottish Water has proposed a £13.4bn investment package in its final business plan for 2027-33. This includes £8.1bn of investment (down from £8.5bn in the draft plan), and £5.3bn for operating and other essential costs. The substantial increase is in response to ageing infrastructure, growing climate change and regulatory pressures, and changing customer needs. The proposed increase to annual customer charges was 3.3% above CPI. Support for customers who

(by Karma Loveday) A major coalition of environmental organisations — including The Wildlife Trusts, National Trust, Wildlife & Countryside Link and nearly 40 others  — has launched a new public campaign demanding ambitious water clean-up action from government, regulators and industry. The campaign is backed by Clean water now , a new report setting out the urgent reforms needed in the upcoming Water Reform Bill. This argued that “years of weak enforcement, regulatory fail

(by Karma Loveday) ITV News reported exclusively that some of the most worrying potential impacts of nature loss weren't disclosed to the public when the Government published a summary version of its nature security assessment on Global biodiversity loss, ecosystem collapse and national security in January. The long version of the report was said to show that nature loss could lead to annual “GDP being 12% lower than it would have been otherwise by 2030.” Other omissions rep

(by Karma Loveday) Lib Dem MP Pippa Heylings has introduced a Ten-Minute Rule Bill that would require the secretary of state to nominate the UK’s chalk streams as a serial UNESCO Natural World Heritage Site. Speaking in Parliament, Heylings said England has custody of 85% of the world’s globally rare chalk streams. And yet: “Today, our chalk streams are in a perilous state. Climate change is one of the greatest threats to our nature and wildlife. Extreme droughts are exacerba

(by Karma Loveday) The National Rivers Consortium (NRC) — a partnership of environmental specialists, engineers and construction professionals dedicated to improving water quality through nature-based solutions — has launched a pioneering initiative to unlock thousands of delayed housing developments while restoring the health of the nation’s waterways. Under a first-of-its-kind scheme, developers active in areas designated for nutrient neutrality can purchase verified phos

(by Karma Loveday) Yorkshire Water was fined £733,333 plus costs at Derby Crown Court for three separate sewage spills in 12 months across 2018-19, at Pools Brook Country Park in Staveley, in a case brought by the Environment Agency.  Law firm Leigh Day has expanded the group claim it is leading against South West Water and its parent Pennon Group over allegations that these companies are responsible for sewage pollution affecting coastal communities. The claim was initia

(by Karma Loveday) UK Water Industry Research (UKWIR) is seeking new independent non-executive directors to join its board. The organisation is inviting applications from within the water industry and from senior leaders in other sectors. The key areas of expertise sought include:   Digital and technology:  experience leading large-scale digital transformation, data and analytics, or responsible artificial intelligence (AI) adoption in complex, regulated environments such as

(by Karma Loveday) The Senedd has passed The Environment (Principles, Governance and Biodiversity Targets) (Wales) Bill, establishing a new framework for environmental protection in Wales. The new legislation will create the Office of Environmental Governance Wales, an independent body responsible for holding public authorities to account on environmental law.  This includes scrutinising the Welsh Government, Natural Resources Wales and local authorities. The legislation also

(by Verity Mitchell) CKI, Power Asset Holdings (PAH) and CK Asset (CKA) have announced that they are selling their jointly-owned regulated UK electricity distribution business, UKPN, to Engie for £10.5bn — a 1.5x premium to UKPN's March 2026 regulated asset value (RAV). CKI will record a 14.5bn Hong Kong Dollar (£1.37bn) profit on disposal. This was a deal, according to CKI, that was “too good to resist”. The sale, combined with its UK rail sale, would result in CKI holding

(by Karma Loveday) River Action has launched a judicial review challenging the green light Natural Resources Wales (NRW) gave in November for three intensive poultry units in Powys to expand, in light of deterioration in the quality of the Wye and Severn catchments. The campaign group argued NRW has taken an “unlawfully narrow view of its powers” in considering that the environmental impacts of manure once it leaves the farm boundary fall outside of permitting rules.  Ofwa

(by Karma Loveday) To provide a centralised view of drought status, and to help stakeholders in the non-household retail market respond effectively to drought events, MOSL has published a new Drought Playbook . The playbook covers: Clear details on the information MOSL can supply during a drought, with confidence levels for each dataset. This includes via publicly available information such as its maps and dashboards, and information that may be able to be provided on reques

(by Karma Loveday) Scotland’s licensed providers (LPs) have told the market operator, the Central Market Agency (CMA), of a series of structural challenges in the Scottish business retail market that are leaving them short of cash. Among the key issues were:  Wholesale pre-payment requirements – many LPs described the requirement for two- and three- months pre-payment of wholesale charges as a barrier to entry to the Scottish market and an impediment to customer acquisition a

(by Karma Loveday) Jersey Water has emphasised that, while welcome, achieving the proposed new PFAS standard for the island will be a “multi-year process”. At the beginning of the month, the Government of Jersey lodged the Draft Water Law (Jersey) Amendment Regulations, which introduce statutory standards for PFAS in the water supplied to the public for the first time. The aim is a maximum of 4ng/l for the sum of four key compounds within five years. In response, Jersey Water

(by Verity Mitchell) The first few months of the year are the time for strategic staff reviews in financial services. At Omers Infrastructure, Alastair Hall — senior managing director, Europe — has resigned. Digital infrastructure lead Chris Hogg has also departed. Hogg was a lead executive overseeing Deutsche Glasfaser, a German internet infrastructure company which Omers, owning 49% along with other investors, has had to refinance. Hall’s legacy, as head of Omers' Europea

(by Karma Loveday) Channel 4’s three-part drama exploring sewage discharge regulation and practice over the past quarter-century begins this evening. Some have suggested Dirty Business will spark public anger about the wastewater industry akin to that which emerged about the Horizon scandal following ITV’s Mr Bates vs the Post Offic e drama. The official trailer suggests the programme will jump between time periods, chiefly highlighting the work of Windrush Against Sewage Po

(by Karma Loveday) The first meeting of the steering group convened under the auspices of the Water White Paper to explore options for regional system planning last week. Along with water minister Emma Hardy and Defra representatives, the group comprised stakeholders including water companies, catchment partnerships, the Environment Agency, local authorities, Ofwat, National Highways, the NFU, Wildlife and Countryside Link, The Rivers Trust, Blueprint for Water and internal d

(by Karma Loveday) Business leaders should treat water continuity as a board-level operational risk, comparable to energy and IT. That’s according to Water Direct’s State of UK water resilience 2025-26 report, which mapped indicators showing risk is increasing. These included: Supply interruptions – Water supply interruptions are worsening year-on-year at the sector level, and are still materially above the five minute regulatory performance expectation.  Capacity loss – The

(by Karma Loveday) Defra is consulting for six weeks on the designation of 13 new bathing water sites, including one on the River Thames. Successful designation would bring the total number of sites in England to 464. The sites under consultation —  many already popular spots for recreation —  are:  Little Shore, Amble, Northumberland – a crescent of sand between the River Coquet and the North Sea which is popular with locals.  Newton and Noss Creeks, Devon – a narrow tidal i

(by Karma Loveday) To mark National Apprenticeship Week 2026, and to support recruitment of 5,000 apprentices by 2030, the water industry took time last week to highlight the opportunities available to train in the sector. Some examples were: Water UK told personal stories of those training in engineering, human resources, data science roles and many more, at water companies across the country.  United Utilities hosted water minister Emma Hardy on a tour of its technical trai

(by Karma Loveday) Ofwat is consulting until 10 March on its ‘minded to’ decision to enable MOSL to share business user water consumption data with authorised third parties, where customer consent has been evidenced. Under amendment CPM060 to the Market Arrangements Code and CPW156 to the Wholesale Retail Code, third parties will be able to submit a single request to the market operator covering a customers' property portfolio, rather than needing to submit multiple requests

(by Karma Loveday) Defra has confirmed that falling block tariffs for large water users will be phased out between now and 2030. This was a correction to the Water White Paper, which said the tariffs would go by April 2026. The Scottish Government has published regulations banning the sale and supply of wet wipes containing plastic . These will come into effect on 11 August 2027. There will be exemptions for medical and industrial uses, as well as business-to-business sales

(by Verity Mitchell) Severn Trent has issued a trading statement for the period to 10 February 2026. It reported strong investment momentum for the current year. It expects to deliver towards the top end of its capital investment guidance range of £1.7bn-£1.9bn. The strategic rationale for accelerated investment is that improved performance will generate regulatory rewards more quickly. Trading has been in line with expectations. The new chief executive, James Jesic, said: “W

(by Verity Mitchell) The Environment Agency (EA) has reported that it has increased its water enforcement workforce almost fivefold — from 41 roles in 2023 to 195 by March 2026, with a further increase planned later in 2026. The watchdog added that it has already delivered over 8,000 of the 10,000 water company inspections planned for the 2025/26 financial year, resulting in over 4,700 individual improvement actions for water companies, including repairing sewage works and u

(by Verity Mitchell) The chief executive of South East Water, David Hinton, has revealed that the outage at its Pembury plant, which caused extended supply outages in Tunbridge Wells in November/December, cost the company around £30m. He was addressing customers at a Consumer Council for Water meeting in early February. He also shared that, had the company installed a backup form of water coagulation on site at a cost of around £20,000, the issue would likely not have happene

(by Verity Mitchell) Thames Water has announced that it has now drawn £1.426bn of its £1.5bn super senior facility. Following consultation with its creditors, Thames can now take advantage of further funds under an accordion facility. Thames’ subsidiary, the super senior issuer, has launched a process to allocate £833m — this being the first tranche of the accordion amount of £750m, augmented by a further £83m from deferred commitments and commitments which belong to the defa

(by Verity Mitchell) In our review of the White Paper ( The end of the beginning for investors , The UK Water Report, February 2026), we noted that there have already been inflows of equity and debt to support transformational investment in AMP8. With the Government taking responsibility for the water sector and ending the blame game, might new capital providers emerge? The growing reputational stability of the sector is likely to attract new private capital market investors.

(by Karma Loveday) The Welsh Government is cutting its own path to water reform, including by rejecting the idea of an integrated regulator for Wales. Instead, in its Green Paper: Shaping the future of water governance in Wales , it proposed creating a Wales-specific combined economic regulator and system planner, that continues to interface with separate environmental and drinking water quality regulators.  The Green Paper is the Welsh Government’s policy response to the rec

(by Karma Loveday) Leading environmental and nature-friendly farming organisations, including River Action, Nature-Friendly Farming Network, The Rivers Trusts, Surfers Against Sewage, Wildlife and Countryside Link, WWF-UK, Wildfarmed, RSPB and the Soil Association, have written to the environment secretary calling for urgent government action to tackle agricultural water pollution . They pointed out that agriculture is now recognised as a significant a source of water polluti

(by Karma Loveday) Affinity Water and its partners will begin the phase two public consultation on the Grand Union Canal Transfer (GUCT) scheme on Wednesday (11 February). Running until 2 April, the consultation will focus on giving communities along the scheme’s proposed route the opportunity to contribute their thoughts and opinions. The consultation includes 12 public meetings to be held at venues along the route through March. Natasha Coackley, head of strategic resource

(by Karma Loveday) The Consumer Council for Water (CCW) has reprised the pre-2005 name for customer representative committees in launching its newly-formed consumer panels. These Water Voice consumer panels are part of government plans to strengthen accountability through ensuring water companies listen and respond to their customers. Sixteen regional Water Voice panels have been set up — one for each water company in England and Wales. Each panel brings together around 50 cu

(by Verity Mitchell) Ofwat has confirmed that Southern Water has completed all the enforcement actions resulting from the 2019 investigation into the company. The enforcement action resulted in Southern funding penalties and redress of £126m, alongside delivering improvements to the operation of its wastewater treatment works, compliance and governance processes. Ofwat is now requiring Southern Water to complete outstanding work identified since 2019. Southern Water’s shareho

(by Karma Loveday) Defra has published a PFAS Plan, setting out the Government’s overall approach to tackling forever chemicals. The plan said the long-term vision is to “work in partnership, taking a science-based and proportionate approach, to reduce and minimise the impacts of harmful PFAS on public health and the environment, including through the transition to safer alternatives”. It sought to meet this vision through three work pillars:  Understanding and identifying th

(by Karma Loveday) Amidst a focus on asset health in the Water White Paper, UK Water Industry Research (UKWIR) has published the outputs from its work to identify A common definition and calculation of asset health . The project provides a framework and guidance which can be commonly applied to bring greater alignment to the assessment and management of asset health. UKWIR noted: “Understanding the health of assets has uses in both investment planning within water companies,

(by Karma Loveday) Portsmouth Water has published Introducing effective supervisory regulation, a report by Frank Grimshaw of Fast Track Squared, which incorporates the company’s own thoughts on the subject. This is presented as a contribution to the post White Paper debate. Portsmouth Water said it strongly supports the introduction of supervision, sees lots of benefits, but appreciates risks that need to be guarded against. These include extra complexity if supervision is

(by Karma Loveday) Small businesses in Scotland ranked water as the sector they are second-to-least satisfied with (see chart), in a survey by Consumer Scotland. The watchdog surveyed 700 small businesses (those with under 50 employees) about their engagement in and satisfaction with various services, from utilities to building and professional services. Key findings included:  Small businesses are just as likely as individual consumers — and in some cases, more likely — to

(by Karma Loveday) Thames Water’s Customer Challenge Group (CCG) has recommended that customer trust is monitored as a core performance measure — “not as a proxy for all external noise, but as a way of focusing attention on the quality and consistency of controllable actions that matter most to customers”. That appeared in the group’s 2025 annual report, which gave Thames a mixed review. Noting the extremely challenging context — featuring refinancing, a pending price appeal,