(by Karma Loveday) Southern Water has appointed former CEO of Kier Group, Andrew Davies, as chair designate. He has joined the board and will succeed Keith Lough, who has served as chair since 2019, on 16 July 2026. Davies has extensive leadership experience across infrastructure, construction and engineering, including at Wates Group and Chemring Group. The British Standards Institute has awarded Northumbrian Water Group with an ISO Innovation Kitemark (ISO 56001) accredita

(by Karma Loveday) A Channel 4 News special report last week accused the Environment Agency of actively helping water companies avoid criminal prosecution for pollution, by pursuing ‘enforcement undertakings’ instead of court cases. This is where polluters are able to make remedial payments to environmental charities to undertake work to improve local waterways, instead of going to court. Channel 4 branded this “a real get out of jail free card,” given payments can be lower t

(by Karma Loveday) Renationalising water companies was the fourth most popular policy from a list of 18 picked by Labour defectors in an election time poll by Greenpeace. YouGov polled people across the country in an experiment designed to test the importance of climate and environment policies, when compared against a selection of other policies. For voters defecting from Labour since 2024, the most popular policy was investing in renewable power, followed by introducing a w

(by Verity Mitchell) CCW has commissioned research to explore how customers understand and interpret water company financial information. The research was conducted with household customers across England and Wales through online focus groups and in-depth interviews. It explored customers’ awareness and understanding of water company finances and whether current reporting helps customers feel informed or reassured. The research showed that much of the financial information cu

(by Verity Mitchell) United Utilities’ surprise announcement of preliminary results on 30 April, with an £800m capital increase, contained many interesting new elements. As the reporting season for the year ended 31 March 2026 begins for the sector, what trends might we expect? AMP8 has precipitated a flurry of new equity pledges or (in the case of Yorkshire Water) new owners willing to fund accelerated asset growth across the sector. While restoring the sector’s reputation w

(by Karma Loveday) Exactly a week after South East Water’s (SEW) chair Chris Train quit, the company on Friday announced chief executive David Hinton would also stand down. Hinton has worked at South East Water for over 25 years, and has been chief executive since 2020. Hinton explained in the May edition of The UK Water Report that he had planned to lead the company through a comprehensive transformation programme, having accepted full accountability for recent supply outage

(by Karma Loveday) The Drinking Water Inspectorate (DWI) has designated the NSF laboratory in Oakdale, Wales, to undertake full Regulation 31 product testing. The DWI said the laboratory will undertake testing of all products in contact with drinking water to meet the requirements of Regulation 31 in full, including leaching protocols such as BSEN1287-1 and the associated tests, GC-MS, TOC and specific determinants as required by the assessing inspector. This will cover testi

(by Karma Loveday) The public and experts agree that England’s national water security is in jeopardy and requires urgent action. That’s according to polling and a major new policy report from Affinity Water. Cross-party consensus on water security shortfall Of over 4,000 adults surveyed by Thinks Insight & Strategy, 70% said previous governments of all parties have failed to prioritise national water security; 68% said urgent action is needed; and 86% want the Government t

(by Karma Loveday) Project-by-project delivery is no longer fit for purpose, according to a new white paper from global engineering firm Egis. From projects to programmes: how infrastructure can keep pace with a changing world draws on insights from specialists across transport, water, cities, energy and digital infrastructure to argue that networks must be planned and operated as long‑term systems, not as a series of isolated projects. It said climate change, ageing assets a

(by Karma Loveday) Ensuring a stable regulatory environment, faster decision-making and deploying proven revenue and risk-sharing models are all factors that would give greater confidence to investors in multi-decade projects in the UK. That’s according to a report from TheCityUK – the body representing UK-based financial and related professional services – and law firm Freshfields. This sets out practical steps to make projects more investable, which in turn will help crowd