The Water (Special Measures) Bill will be extended to Wales, deputy first minister and cabinet secretary for climate change and rural affairs Huw Irranca-Davies told the Senedd last week.
Describing a “renewed spirit of cross-border collaboration” since the general election, he said: “In that spirit of collaborative cross-border working, I have agreed that the UK Government’s new Water (Special Measures) Bill be extended to Wales.
“It will grant a new power for Ofwat to limit the bonuses paid to executives. It will allow Natural Resources Wales to recover costs from water companies for enforcement activities. It will reduce administration through automatic penalties for a defined list of offences. It will allow more effective enforcement options by enabling regulators to apply civil sanction penalties more quickly.”
He added: “Now, the water sector in Wales, of course, is different from that in England and with Dŵr Cymru Welsh Water operating as a not-for-dividend. Any changes to the law must reflect Wales’s needs and we will always put the interests of the people of Wales first.”
Irranca-Davies said his department would also collaborate with Defra on reviewing the future of bathing water regulations to further strengthen the programmes on both sides of the border.
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