Over £1.6 billion of new investment will be directed into vital
infrastructure to improve the water quality of our rivers, lakes
and coastal waters and secure future water supplies, the
government and Ofwat announced today.
It follows a request from Defra to English water companies to
accelerate investments between now and 2025 to tackle storm
overflow discharges, reduce nutrient pollution from treatment
works and address water resilience challenges.
This announcement comes ahead of the government’s Integrated Plan
for Water, which will be published tomorrow, and will set out how
we can achieve cleaner and more plentiful water for future
generations. The investment announced today will ensure
improvements are made more quickly to address the unacceptable
levels of pollution in waterways and deliver for customers.
As part of the new package of investment, announced
in draft
form by Ofwat, companies will commit £1.1 billion to
help eliminate harm caused by storm overflows. A further £400
million will be spent on water resilience schemes and £160m to
help reduce nutrient pollution.
It includes major new projects such as:
- United Utilities reducing around 8,400 spills per year,
including reducing discharges into Lake Windermere (£800 million)
- Yorkshire Water improving wastewater treatment infrastructure
in Ilkley to improve the bathing water quality of the River
Wharfe (£67 million)
- South West Water upgrading assets and storage to reduce
discharges in Falmouth and Sidmouth (£70 million)
- Anglian Water accelerating its regional storm overflow
reduction plan in the east of England (£27 million)
- Essex and Suffolk Water increasing water resilience in their
area to better meet the needs of local customers including
businesses (£18 million)
- Severn Trent rolling out smart meters and modifying its
Draycote Water reservoir in Warwickshire to increase water
capacity (£70 million)
Schemes will also focus on new infrastructure to reduce nutrient
pollution. Improvements at 14 wastewater treatment works, with an
investment of £160 million, will significantly reduce phosphorus
pollution in protected site catchments. This includes proposals
from Anglian Water to both reduce pollution and support
sustainable housing development.
All work will start in the next two years, from 2023 to 2025.
Water Minister said:
These new schemes will help accelerate the delivery of the urgent
improvements we need to protect our environment. It includes £1.1
billion of new investment to stop sewage discharges at sites
across the country and will deliver a reduction of 10,000
discharges per year in places like Lake Windermere, the River
Wharfe, Falmouth and Sidmouth.
The investment set out here will also provide an important boost
for regional jobs, businesses and local communities.
It builds on the key commitments in our five year strategy – our
Environmental Improvement Plan – as well as our upcoming Plan for
Water to tackle pollution, reduce water consumption and protect
our waters.
Ofwat Chief Executive said:
Substantial investment is needed to address the challenges to our
water system of storm overflows, river and bathing water quality
and drought resilience.
We are pleased that we’ve been able to work with companies and
identify significant investments which companies can start well
before the next price control period. This will bring substantial
benefits for customers and the environment and bring them faster.
We want to see companies making more rapid progress in delivering
improvements, and will hold them to account if they fall short.
Ofwat will consult on these draft decisions and the consultation
will close at midday on Monday 24 April 2023.
