Letter to SR re amendments FINAL

As you will know, we have been closely involved in recent legal cases1 and investigations into the functioning of the water industry and its regulation by Ofwat, Defra and the Environment Agency.2 We were therefore pleased to see the Government’s proposals to address the many negative impacts the water industry has on our rivers. [...] We note that you say the changes proposed to the Water Industry Act 1991 to be made by the Water (Special Measures) Bill “represent a significant increase in enforcement powers for the water regulators so regulators can take tougher and faster action to protect customers and the environment” and that changes would “ensure the Environment Agency has the resources, including staff, to take the enfor. [...] We will be tabling some ‘technical’ amendments to the Bill shortly which we believe the Government could support to ‘tweak’ the existing law to make the progress we all want to see more rapid. [...] However, even before the Water (Special Measures) Bill becomes law, we believe there are some changes that would immediately - and without huge upheaval - add to the effective control of water company activities and start the process of recovery from the last 15 years. [...] While we can see that many NGOs and environmental charities are arguing for a total revision of the post-privatisation statutory framework, we believe that the fundamental problem with the water industry is not necessarily with the law, and that existing framework, but with the failures in implementation under that framework, and in enforcement by regulators of that existing law.