Ruth Williams

Defra ‘playing to the gallery’ on £250m pollution fines

The newly appointed environment secretary Ranil Jayawardena has promised the Environment Agency the much bigger stick its chief executive said was necessary to tackle pollution incidents by water companies. Utility Week spoke to an environmental regulation lawyer and sector executives about what the threat of £250 million fines could mean for the water industry and the likelihood of such penalties ever being enforced.

Ofwat tells Yorkshire to recall £940m loans

Affinity ramps up financial support and efficiency campaign

Failure to build reservoirs has left water supplies ‘exposed’

Ofwat: Wastewater plans must reflect CSO targets

New EA chair wants pollution fines boost delivered quickly

Yorkshire Water trials new sludge screen

Anglian unveils sites for bathing and reservoir

Weekend press: U-turn on ‘interventionist’ energy efficiency campaign

Our latest roundup of national news coverage from the weekend includes more signs of in-fighting among the Conservative party over the cancelling of a public information campaign on reducing energy demand; a revenue cap for renewable generators moves closer to becoming reality; Octopus progresses its takeover deal for Bulb and The Rivers Trust accuses the Environment Agency of being missing in action.

Spring invites innovators to develop pump and valve resilience