(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