(by Verity Mitchell) New research from Mitie has revealed senior leaders at more than half of UK organisations (53%) consider water a significant risk to their business. Rising water costs (50%), leakage (47%) and operational disruption (31%) emerged as the greatest concerns. With over two in five organisations (42%) worried about water-related risks in the near term, concern rises sharply to three in five (60%) over the longer term. The survey of 500 UK senior decision maker

(by Karma Loveday) Source: Ofwat Customers using between 5Ml and 50Ml of water a year will be taken out of price caps altogether, under proposals out from Ofwat for consultation until 14 August. This amounts to a significant relaxation of its Retail Exit Code (REC) price protections, which has been called for by retailers since the market has matured. The plan entails shrinking the current ‘Group 2’ customer boundary, from those consuming 0.5Ml-50Ml annually (hotels, farms, s

(by Karma Loveday) Eight finalists – including water companies, universities and labs – will receive £50,000 each from Ofwat’s Water Innovation Implementation Programme to explore expansion of UK-based Regulation 31 testing capabilities. The first Implementation Enablers challenge, newly part of the Ofwat Innovation Fund, has been run in collaboration with the Drinking Water Inspectorate. The aim is to tackle a key bottleneck holding back the adoption of innovative products a

(by Verity Mitchell) Government has claimed that its Water Delivery Taskforce has successfully stepped in to bring together local planning authorities, regulators and Anglian Water to agree a path to more home building. Anglian Water had previously objected to several large-scale developments due to concerns over wastewater treatment capacity. Through the new approach, Anglian Water is working with developers and planning authorities at an earlier stage in the process to enab

(by Karma Loveday) A PR24-funded £75m national Water Efficiency Campaign went live across England and Wales last week. ‘Let’s Save Water’ seeks to make a measurable contribution to a 5% reduction in water consumption within ten years, and more broadly to change how society thinks about water. The campaign’s core message in England is that “we’re using water faster than nature replaces it” while in Wales, it is that climate change is making supplies less predictable. The campa

(by Karma Loveday) The Water Industry Commission for Scotland’s well-established support for steady investment and price increases continued as it announced its Draft Determination (DD) for the Strategic Review of Charges 2027-33 (SR27) last week. But attention to affordability – as evidenced by cost challenge, higher performance expectations, and new safeguards to protect customers from uncertainty and delivery risk – curtailed the allowances Scottish Water (SW) had requeste

(by Karma Loveday) Festival season has arrived, with Northumbrian Water kicking off its tenth Innovation Festival today. Reflecting the milestone, this year’s theme is ‘Power of 10’ – celebrating a decade of progress and looking at the decade ahead. A bigger-than-ever programme of sprints, hacks and daily dashes will be paired with guest speakers, live entertainment, food and fun. The week’s agenda is shown above. Northumbrian Water says: “What started life as a celebration

(by Karma Loveday) Defra is consulting until 16 July on its White Paper plans to establish an independent, impartial Water Ombudsman. There is currently no compulsory, legally binding redress scheme in the water sector and Defra argued: “It is vital customers have assurance their complaints will be resolved.” The move would align water with other regulated sectors which already have established ombudsmen. The new body can be established under the legislative framework provide

(by Karma Loveday) The Drinking Water Inspectorate (DWI) has now published its full investigation report into the Cryptosporidium outbreak in the Brixham area in May 2024. Earlier this month, the DWI announced a record £1.8m fine for South West Water for these failures. The Public Accounts Committee will today take evidence from regulators including Ofwat, and customer champions including Martin Lewis, on how consumer experience can be improved in water, energy and telecoms.

(by Karma Loveday) Ofwat is consulting until 30 July on small changes to its Wholesale Charging Rules (WCRs) and associated Charging Scheme Rules, to support water companies to attach greater consideration of water scarcity when setting their wholesale charges, and to encourage more tariff innovation. The regulator consulted in August 2025 on options for how it might amend its WCRs to promote water efficiency in the face of water scarcity. It also considered whether to pursue