(by Karma Loveday) The Environment Agency has published a factual report setting out a timeline of how the 2025 drought developed in England and Wales. This is because the drought was significant, and manifested increased volatility in weather conditions resulting from climate change. The EA offered the following summary:  “The 18 months leading up to December 2024 were the wettest on record for England. Yet by mid-February 2025, the weather turned to settled and dry. The dry

(by Karma Loveday) The slow and non payment of fines by water companies has provoked questions in the House of Lords. In oral questions last week, Lord Sikka challenged the Government for allowing some payment plans to stretch out to 2030, citing 1200 criminal convictions across the industry. He said: “No statement to that effect has been made to Parliament. Can the minister explain why the Government continues to indulge criminal organisations?” For the Government, Baroness

(by Karma Loveday) Moody's Ratings has affirmed the Baa3 backed and underlying senior secured ratings of South East Water (Finance) — the financing subsidiary of South East Water —  but changed the outlook to negative from stable. Moody’s said the outlook change reflected “SEW's operational underperformance with regards to water supply resilience, at a time where the sector’s continued high social risk exacerbates political and media attention towards water company performan

(by Karma Loveday) Defra has issued its first post White Paper consultation —  on the regulatory framework for sludge applied to agriculture. This follows campaigning from green groups on public health and environmental grounds (41% of England’s rivers suffer from agricultural pollution), and the Independent Water Commissions recommendation that the treatment, storage and use of sludge should be moved into the Environmental Permitting Regulations (EPR) 2016. At present, 94.4%

(by Karma Loveday) The investment that higher water charges will pay for was very much front and centre of this year’s annual bill announcement. Water UK said household water bills in England and Wales will rise by an average of 5.4% — around £33 a year, or approximately £2.70 per month — from April, to pay for £20bn of investment in upgrading water and wastewater infrastructure in 2026/27. The rise is two percentage points above December’s official inflation figure and tak

(by Karma Loveday) Defra and Ofwat have assured the Public Accounts Committee (PAC) that PR29 will remain on track despite parallel work to create a new regulator. Ofwat’s interim chief executive Chris Walters said: “We need a clear idea by the end of this year of what the methodology for the next price review will look like. That is what we are aiming to include in the transition plan, which we are expecting in March.” He explained: “It took us around 15 months of analysis,

(by Karma Loveday) More of the Competition and Markets Authority’s (CMA) key guidance documents will need approval from the secretary of state under plans out for consultation from the Department for Business and Trade (DBT). The Department is running a consultation until 31 March on Refining our competition regime. It said the aim is to “ensure the framework continues to promote effective competition, support economic growth, and deliver benefits for consumers and businesses

(by Karma Loveday) Thames Water has issued a £5.7bn tender for a Main Works Contractor for its newly renamed White Horse Reservoir in Abingdon, Oxfordshire – formerly known as SESRO. The contractor will design, plan and build the new facility that will supply water locally and onwards to London and Hampshire, including excavation, building embankments and laying pipelines. Thames is hosting an online applicant briefing on 11 February. Interested organisations have until 24 Ap

(by Karma Loveday) Defra has published Global biodiversity loss, ecosystem collapse and national security –  a strategic assessment of how global nature depletion could affect the UK’s resilience, security and prosperity. This finds that the critical ecosystems that support major global food production areas and impact global climate, water and weather cycles are the most important for UK national security. We are at high risk of exposure to these impacts and at high risk of

(by Karma Loveday) Ofwat is consulting until 18 February on changing the market codes to introduce a Cost Recovery Mechanism (CRM) and Cashflow Support Tool (CST), and associated guidance, designed to strengthen the Interim Supply Arrangements. This is to protect customers when a retailer collapses or otherwise unexpectedly leaves the market. In July 2024, the regulator decided to allow retailers to recover efficiently incurred costs where they act as interim supplier, to mak