Other stories from last week

(by Karma Loveday)

New PM Andy Burnham has appointed Wallasey MP Dame Angela Eagle as Defra secretary of state. She served as Defra minister of state between September 2025 and June 2026. Emma Hardy remains in the department, securing a promotion from Parliamentary under secretary to minister of state.

The Scottish Government has appointed Aidan O’Carroll as the new chair of the Water Industry Commission for Scotland. He will serve for four years from August. O’Carroll is a chartered accountant and former senior partner at EY, and currently chairs the board of Revenue Scotland. He takes over from interim chair Morag Sheppard.

John Halsall has formally taken over as chief executive of South East Water, having secured regulatory approval. On day one, he made three pledges to customers to deliver in the first nine months: fixing day-to-day performance, driving operational excellence and ensuring transparent and authentic engagement. He said his longer term goals included embedding customer centricity in the organisation, transforming the business and delivering the investment programme. 

Gatwick Airport was among the customers affected by water supply loss on Sunday morning and early afternoon, after a power outage at SES Water’s Bough Beach Water Treatment Works. Toilet facilities were affected and restaurants and bars closed, which also caused a shortage of seating. At the time of writing, SES said the Bough Beech works was back up and running, and it was working hard to treat water so services could return to normal.

Welsh Water has launched market engagement for the £500m Cwm Taf Water Supply Strategy, the largest infrastructure investment in its history. Investors, lenders and engineering partners are invited to help shape the commercial and procurement approach before formal procurement begins under Ofwat’s Direct Procurement for Customers model.

Scottish Water is progressing its digital strategy with the award of £230m contracts to BT and Accenture to strengthen cyber security, improve network resilience and modernise key applications.

Southern Water has secured £20m of accelerated funding to launch a major programme to tackle storm overflows on the Isle of Wight. The island has hosted a series of innovative trials and investigations.

Business Stream has provided undertakings to return to compliance with the back billing provisions of the Customer Protection Code of Practice (CPCoP) and to compensate affected customers accordingly. Ofwat identified an issue following receipt of a customer complaint. A Business Stream review confirmed 1,045 customers (across 1,102 accounts) had been incorrectly back billed beyond the timeframes permitted by the CPCoP over the past five years, to the value of £790,000 (although 38% remains as aged debt). Business Stream is applying account credits and refunds to affected customers by the end of August.

WSP has been appointed to all three lots on the Environment Agency’s National Groundwater Modelling Framework – covering regional modelling, groundwater flooding and expert review.

Arcadis has been appointed across all three Technical Services sub-lots within Lot 1 of Yorkshire Water’s Technical Services and Assurance Framework. The multi-supplier framework, valued at  £80m, provides Yorkshire Water with a single commercial route to access specialist engineering, design, technical assurance and advisory services across its capital investment portfolio. It runs from 1 July 2026 to 30 June 2030, with the option to extend for up to two additional years. 

The Catchment Systems Thinking Cooperative (CaSTCo) programme has secured a one-year extension from the Ofwat Innovation Fund, enabling it to scale the adoption of its framework and accelerate the next phase of integrated catchment monitoring across the UK. The programme brings together the water sector, regulators, NGOs and civil society and aims to ensure that by 2035 every river is monitored, understood and cared for.

Ofwat is consulting until 10 August on its approach to enforcement in cases of sewer flooding. This will replace a 2006 letter to regulatory directors on the subject, and seeks to provide transparency and clarity on the legal framework, how Ofwat assesses compliance and how it approaches enforcement.