Water Bill is ‘step forward’ for cleaner waters but only ‘tip of the iceberg’

The Secretary of State for Defra, Steve Reed OBE MP, recently announced plans for a new Water (Special Measures) Bill.

The new legislation, which will apply in England and Wales, will give increased power to regulators to tackle companies who pollute and make it easier for them to get fined.

The Clean Water Sports Alliance welcomes the announcement of the new Bill and also the promise of further reform.

The Clean Water Sports Alliance, which has now grown to nine national governing bodies of sport, has been strongly advocating for the water regulator to be properly resourced to be able to properly hold polluters to account.

Under the new plans, the cap on fines is to be lifted and that money invested back into environmental improvement.

The measures set out in the new Bill will also ban water company bosses from receiving bonuses following poor performance and even threaten prison sentences.

While the Alliance welcomes these new powers, it also feels it is essential that the Environment Agency has the funding and resources to be able to uphold existing laws, whilst increasing testing and investigating breaches of the law fully.

Also set out in the new Bill, is an intention for independent monitoring of all outlets, in real time, with data open and accessible to all. Access to accurate, real time data is one of the Clean Water Sports Alliance’s top three priorities.

Protect and recover precious blue spaces

While some progress has been made through the publishing of water company discharge maps, the Alliance welcomes all moves towards greater transparency and availability of data as a means of enabling communities to make informed decisions.

The Secretary of State set out in his speech a promise to undertake a full review of the water sector and to introduce ‘radical new reform’.

To date, the needs of recreational blue space users has largely been absent in policy making. It is hoped that the setting for the Secretary of State’s recent speech is an indication that the need to protect human health will be fully considered.

The Alliance sees the announcement as a positive first step in addressing our broken water sector.

Swim England’s head of public affairs, Philip Brownlie, said: “The announcement is a positive step forward and sends out a clear message to polluters that things have to change. But it is just that, a first step.

“Water companies are part of a much wider problem of pollution in our waters and the further reforms promised by the Government need to tackle agriculture, road and chemical pollution. It was pleasing to hear this acknowledged in the speech.

“The Clean Water Sports Alliance will continue to advocate for strengthened legal duties on water industry regulators to improve both the environment and importantly, protect human health.

“We hope that Ministers will now listen carefully to the concerns from the water sports community and act decisively to protect and recover our precious blue spaces for people and nature in future legislation.”

BREAKING: The new Government is cracking down on polluting water bosses. https://t.co/UreRncOcJ6pic.twitter.com/22L4q9jwCK

— Defra UK (@DefraGovUK) September 5, 2024