Water to be an EA priority in 2024-25

The Environment Agency will measure its performance on water against the following targets in 2024-25:

• Conducting 4,000 water company compliance inspections and publishing the findings.

• Bringing 90% of non-compliant water company sewage treatment works back into compliance.

• Carrying out 4,000 agriculture outcomes and farm inspections. 

These were among the commitments set out in the EA’s business plan for 2024-25, published last week.

Water was the first priority; it will be a key area of focus in the year ahead and necessitate a “significant uplift in resources”. Among other things, the Agency said it would expand its water quality team from 130 to 340 and invest an additional £5.8m in water industry enforcement activity.

2024-25 is the final year of the Agency’s current five year corporate plan. Transitioning to the new plan will see a focus on people, transparency, culture and improved use of data, the plan said.