(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