The Rivers Trust welcomes today’s report from the House of Lords Industry and Regulators Committee regarding regulation of the water and sewage industry. In particular, we wholeheartedly support the recommendations for:

Universal metering of water supply and other measures to drive down consumption;
Greater emphasis on nature-based solutions, the Catchment Based Approach and outcome-based regulation to deliver wider benefits for society;
Increasing bills to drive investment, with social tariffs to protect poorer households;
A much-needed government water strategy to drive more collaboration by all sectors to tackle the complex issues affecting water quality and quantity;

More open data and transparency.

Mark Lloyd, Chief Executive of The Rivers Trust, said: “I’m really pleased to see this thoughtful and very timely report into regulation of the water industry. Current water regulation is failing to deliver the improvements in river health which are essential if we are to rise to the climate and biodiversity emergencies. The availability of clean water is essential for life and should be a much higher priority for the whole of government. If the Government commits to the recommendations in this report, then we can start to transform our water from being a problem to being at the core of a holistic solution for the whole environment.” 