In what was billed as his final speech on water, the Environment Agency’s chief executive, Sir James Bevan, called for the public debate on how to protect and restore waterways to be grounded in evidence.
Bevan welcomed the dramatically increased scrutiny of the water sector, even of the related challenge to the Agency itself if this leads to better outcomes. But he said: “All I would say is let’s have this debate on the basis of the facts not assertions – and there are some wild assertions, myths and outright untruths flying around. Let’s also be clear that we all want the same thing: everyone has an interest in clean and plentiful water.”
Bevan laid out a list of five key actors who will need to play their part in a better water future: polluters (water companies and agriculture), regulators, government, non-government oranisations and the general public.
The speech is available HERE.
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