Policy And Regulation Updates

Water Resources

Ofwat Calls For Water Resource Management Plan Improvements - Ofwat has provided its first wave of feedback to English and Welsh ministers as a statutory consultee on water company Water Resource Management Plans (WRMPs). These set out how each company plans to balance supply and demand for the coming 25 years.

Through a series of letters, Ofwat called for improvements before the plans are finalised. Although the draft plans would see more infrastructure – including reservoirs, transfers and recycling schemes – delivered to increase supply and manage demand to 2050, the regulator sought more creative and innovative ideas that are deliverable and provide best value for customers, at efficient cost.

It joined a chorus of voices highlighting the shortcomings of draft WRMPs. These have included campaigner coalition Blueprint for Water; MOSL and the Strategic Panel in the non-household market; and some press sources.

Bathing Water

One River Makes It Into Defra Consultation On New Bathing Waters  - Defra is consulting until 24 March on the designation of the following four new bathing waters:

• Sykes Lane Bathing Beach, Rutland Water, Rutland
• Whitwell Creek, Rutland Water, Rutland
• Firestone Bay, Plymouth, Devon
• River Deben, Waldringfield, Suffolk.

If these sites achieve bathing water designation, the Environment Agency will monitor water quality during the summer season. 

In a separate consultation, Defra is considering de-designating Tunstall Beach as a bathing site, given cliff erosion has reduced public access and made sampling unfeasible.

Campaigners have criticised the rejection of a reported eight other applications for bathing rivers. Defra said applications have to meet certain criteria, including how many people bathe there and the existence of infrastructure like toilets, before they can proceed to public consultation.

Regulation

Ofwat Seeks New Senior Directors  - Ofwat’s senior director for strategy, finance and infrastructure John Russell will leave Ofwat in the summer to take up a new role as a chief executive outside the water sector. Meanwhile Emma Kelso, senior director for markets, enforcement and customer policy, will remain in Ofwat but step back from her role so she can study for a doctorate. 

Ofwat is recruiting for both positions. 

Separately, RAPID managing director Paul Hickey will join the Ofwat senior leadership team on a permanent basis, having been on secondment from the Environment Agency. 

Ofwat updated that recruitment for a senior director for the price review, following the announcement of Aileen Armstrong’s departure, is well underway.

Water Regulation At Risk From Retained EU Law Bill - The risk posed to regulation of the water environment from the Government’s post Brexit deregulatory drive was challenged further last week, when the Retained EU Law Bill was debated in the House of Lords.

Of particular note was shadow environment spokesperson Baroness Hayman of Ullock’s Amendment 130, which she said "would ensure that the powers to amend the important pieces of retained EU environment law do not reduce the level of environmental protection that is provided for in them”.

She explained: “My Amendment 130 focuses on regulations that have been earmarked as priorities for review and on which the Government already have amending powers. For example, during the evidence session with the House of Lords Environment and Climate Change Committee, the Defra Secretary of State referred to the goal of the Environment Agency to change quite a lot of the water framework directive.”

However Defra minister Lord Benyon said the concerns were “unfounded”. 

Innovation

Be Creative To Meet A Trio Of Challenges, NIC Tells The Water Sector - The water sector needs to take creative new approaches to the challenges facing it, rather than just do the same things a bit better or cheaper, according to James Heath, chief executive of the National Infrastructure Commission. 

Heath boiled the sector’s challenges down to "too much, too little and too dirty water”. He said three main things are needed:

• “A long-term plan that is clear on what our water and wastewater needs will be over the next 30 years - and maps out how to get from here to there.”
• Long-term strategic planning to meet the goals set.
• Funding – large scale investment is needed, with enhancement spending potentially three times greater than today. Heath questioned: “How do we square this circle of increasing investment with the public’s ability to pay for it?” He said water bills would need to increase, but also that shareholder returns must be limited to reflect the true level of risk.

Heath called for innovation and new thinking – for instance on separating rainwater from sewerage systems, smart water metering and rainwater harvesting.

Pollution

Nature Coalition Warns The UK Is At Risk Of Falling Behind On ‘Forever’ Chemical Pollution - The UK is set to fall behind the EU in preventing toxic ‘forever’ chemicals causing water pollution. 

That warning came from environment expert group Wildlife and Countryside Link (WCL). 
Analysis by The Rivers Trust for WCL showed 77% of English river sites would fail to meet proposed EU standards (expected to be agreed this year) on safe levels for per- and poly-fluoroalkyl substances (PFAS). These are human-made chemicals that are used mainly to make materials heat, water, flame or stain resistant.

Of the English river sites that are exceeding the proposed standard, more than half are above the proposed threshold by five times or more.

WCL called for the following actions in PFAS regulation, UK REACH and the forthcoming UK Chemicals Strategy:

• Phasing out PFAS from all but the most vital uses. 
• Regulating chemicals in groups (where all chemicals with similar structures would be restricted if one was found to be harmful. This would prevent one damaging chemical being easily replaced by another similar chemical).
• Routinely monitoring for known dangerous combinations of cocktails and taking mixtures into account in chemical safety assessments for new chemicals to be put on the market. 
• Delivering more rigorous monitoring, including through increased funding for the Environment Agency’s river monitoring programme.

The proposed new EU Environmental Quality Standard will be set for a group of 24 different PFAS, rather than for individual PFAS, to protect people and wildlife from the cumulative effect from an exposure to chemical cocktails. Five EEA countries have also submitted a proposal to ban the use of around 10,000 PFAS in the EU, and there are EU commitments to adopt a grouping approach on chemical regulation.

WCL Calls For The Levelling Up Bill To Allow Nature-Based Solutions On Nutrients - Nature coalition Wildlife and Countryside Link (WCL) is supporting an amendment to the Levelling Up and Regeneration Bill which would allow water companies to deliver nutrient pollution reductions through nature-based solutions.  

In a briefing for the Lords Committee stage of the Bill, WCL said it strongly supported Amendment 390 tabled by Baroness Willis of Summertown, Baroness Parminter and Baroness Jones of Whitchurch, which would enable water companies to meet new nutrient pollution standards set out in the Bill through nature-based solutions deployed across a whole catchment, rather than just through on-site works.

The coalition explained the existing Clause 153, which puts a duty on water companies to upgrade sewage disposal works to meet new nutrient pollution standards in polluted freshwater habitats, specifies that upgrades should only take place at sewage disposal works.