(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