Press Statement: Independent Water Commission is a once in a lifetime opportunity for rivers

Our rivers, lakes and seas are not in the healthy state we need them to be in for a thriving future, and today the Independent Water Commission launches its Call for Evidence. This is a once in a lifetime opportunity to reshape how we look after our water environment for every aspect of life - supplying the water we drink, protecting our communities from flooding and everything that nature and our wildlife depends on.

In particular we need to be more efficient in our water usage domestically and collectively, better at managing land management to improve water quality and build resilience against climate change, working with nature rather than against it. We need a properly integrated, collaborative approach to managing water in river catchments with fewer plans and more action, supported by higher-quality data to understand pressures, plan effectively, optimise spending, and monitor the impact of interventions. Crucially, all of this must be underpinned by a regulatory system that has the mandate, resources, and will to deliver for customers and the environment.

We urge everyone to get involved and have their say for a future that values and restores our water environment to good health, supporting a better world for us all to live in.