Politicians urge governance overhaul of Welsh Water

Welsh politicians have urged Dŵr Cymru (Welsh Water) to improve its performance while calling for an overhaul of its regulation and governance.

Llŷr Gruffydd, who chairs the Senedd’s climate change committee, led a Plenary debate on the committee’s recent critical report into the not-for-profit company.

He highlighted a slew of problems which included pollution, leakages, water quality and supply interruptions. “These are just some of the issues Welsh Water is struggling with,” he said. As a result its environmental performance has been downgraded from four stars to two.

Members of the Senedd (MSs) lined up to criticise both the economic regulator Ofwat and its environmental counterpart, Natural Resources Wales, claiming the governance and regulatory model was designed for privately owned water companies.

Gruffydd complained that Ofwat has applied a “one-size-fits-all” approach to regulation that had not served the people of Wales well. Ofwat had told the committee that there was an accountability deficit because of Dŵr Cymru's mutualisation status.

The session heard calls for a wide-ranging debate on whether the governance regime in Wales was working  and what alternative model might perform better.

MSs were plainly envious of the position in Scotland where the publicly owned water company reports to the Water Industry Commission for Scotland and the Drinking Water Quality Regulator for Scotland. “We could legislate here to scrap Ofwat” suggested MS Adam Price, the Plaid Cymru member for Cardigan.