The Government is bringing in measures to strengthen regulation of the water industry as it attempts to answer public anger over sewage polluting rivers, lakes and seas. The Water (Special Measures) Bill announced in the King’s Speech includes regulations to make water company bosses face personal criminal liability for breaking laws on water quality, and new powers for regulator Ofwat to ban the payment of bonuses if environmental standards are not met. It also establishes a new code of conduct for water companies, allowing customers to summon board members and hold executives to account, and will introduce new powers to bring “automatic and severe” fines for transgressions.
And it requires water companies to install real-time monitors at every sewage outlet with data independently scrutinised by the water regulators – although the government announced last year that all of England’s storm overflows are electronically monitored. The measures, which cover England and Wales, come in response to growing public anger over the degraded state of rivers, lakes and coastal waters, rising bills, and the dividends and bonuses paid out by water companies. Sewage spills from water infrastructure have contributed to a situation in which no single river in England is considered to be in good overall health, and beauty spots including Windermere in the Lake District have been polluted.
Water utilities have also been hit by multimillion-pound fines for repeated and damaging illega.