(by Karma Loveday) Cross-party think tank Policy Connect, through the Westminster Sustainable Business Forum, is calling for evidence until 29 April for its fifth Bricks and Water inquiry , focused on water and housing. The specific focus of the latest inquiry is water resources and reuse, following the Cunliffe Review recommendations and Water White Paper policies. It seeks to build evidence and make recommendations to Government ahead of the forthcoming Water Bill on pract

(by Karma Loveday) 60% of all non-household water consumption in England now falls within regions the Environment Agency classifies as seriously water stressed. The most acutely stressed areas span much of the South and East of England, covering regions served by Thames Water, Anglian Water, South East Water and Affinity Water, where demand already outstrips available supply in dry years. That’s according to retailer Everflow. Its analysis of MOSL data highlighted a growing r

(by Verity Mitchell) Ofwat has felt it necessary to write to the remuneration committee chairs of all English and Welsh water companies, reminding them of their licence obligations.  The year that ended 31 March 2025 was the first year in which Ofwat applied a performance related executive pay (PRP) prohibition rule. Where a company has triggered the PRP prohibition rule, it should provide an explanation of the reasonable steps it has taken to ensure that a director does not

(by Karma Loveday) The Innovation Enablers stream of the Ofwat Innovation Fund has selected the the lack of resilient UK-based facilities capable of undertaking full Regulation 31 (Reg 31) testing as the first priority barrier to address head-on. Reg 31 ensures that all materials and products used in contact with drinking water are safe and do not compromise water quality. However, there are no UK-based facilities offering the complete service. Ofwat said: “This creates a cri

(by Verity Mitchell) Thames Water has launched a ninth set of funding consent requests from its super senior creditors. It has requested they: extend the June release condition to 30 April 2026; and make further amendments to the facility which (among other things) would change the dates and amounts of scheduled drawdowns to reflect Thames’ anticipated liquidity needs. If granted, this will allow Thames to draw a further £205m in April 2026. These latest requests have a votin

(by Karma Loveday) South East Water (SEW) and regulator leaders will return to the Environment, Food and Rural Affairs Committee tomorrow (Tuesday 12) to give further evidence to MPs about November/December 2025’s Pembury water treatment works outage, which left many customers in the Tunbridge Wells area off supply. A new session has been convened now that both the company’s own investigation into the incident, and the Drinking Water Inspectorate’s (DWI) investigation, have b

(by Karma Loveday) It was widely reported before the Easter break, following a story in the FT, that Ofwat was poised to accept undertakings from Thames Water creditors that would trade off a commitment to invest in the business and improve longer-term performance, for Ofwat’s agreement to waive new fines for the rest of AMP8. If struck, and such deal would be subject to public consultation.  South East Water ’s resilience challenges surfaced again ahead of Easter, when just

(by Karma Loveday) On 1 April, MOSL launched Phase 1 of the new smart meter data hub. Wholesalers can now enter actual smart meter reads into the hub, and retailers can view, extract and use their customers’ smart meter data. Two interfaces are available: a web portal for submitting, viewing and amending lower volumes of data, and a system-to-system interface for higher volumes of data. Trading parties’ use of the hub is optional during Phase 1. However, its use will become m

(by Karma Loveday) The Environment Agency has reported exceeding its target to complete over 10,000 inspections of water company assets in the 2025/26 year. This is more than double the 4,600 inspections of 2024/25. The Agency said it had uncovered over 3,000 permit condition breaches, leading to “real-world action with over 3,000 individual demands for improvement issued to water companies, including repairing sewage works and upgrading infrastructure”. The watchdog said tha

(by Karma Loveday) Ofwat has published an overview of the combined gated process it and RAPID will now use to oversee and support the Major Water Infrastructure Programme. This consists of 30 projects, each valued at £200m+ totex, and either RAPID’s Strategic Resource Options or projects meeting the criteria for competitive procurement — Direct Procurement for Customers (DPC) or the Specified Infrastructure Project Regulations (SIPR). There are now six gates, each associated