Water sector calls for ‘urgent action’ to improve resilience

The water sector has called on government to collaborate on how to accelerate essential improvements while protecting householders from bill hikes.

In a white paper published on Tuesday (17 May) the industry, coordinated by Water UK, proposed a series of ambitious regulatory reforms:

• Long-term environmental targets for England, including the reduction of carbon emissions and improving all aspects of water quality, ideally underpinned by protection in law such as a new, single Rivers Act. This was previously proposed by Water UK
• Ensuring the sector has the world-class green skills to identify, develop and implement innovative solutions.
• Focusing planning decisions on a stronger understanding of ‘best value’, enabling the most beneficial improvements for society to be taken forward.
• Agreeing investment decisions based on a forward-looking approach to assessing costs, impact and risk rather than focusing on historical data.

Christine McGourty, chief executive of the trade body, said: “There can be no doubting the profound, existential challenges facing the water sector over the coming decades. Without urgent action there is a risk future generations will simply not have enough of this precious resource to go around.

“We know water companies have a significant role to play in tackling these challenges, and this white paper sets out the positive, ambitious ways in which we can meet them head-on,” she said.

“But we can’t do this alone and we need others to join us on this journey so we can ensure that our children are able to enjoy the same on demand water supply we take for granted today.”

The paper details changes necessary to protect rivers and coasts. Without such reforms, the paper said it would be increasingly difficult for water companies to meet the targets set out in the government’s 25-year Environment and Storm Overflow Discharge Reduction Plan.