Environment Agency’s funding has had little impact on reducing diffuse water pollution
The Environment Agency’s (the Agency) plan to work towards new standards for England’s water bodies, including rivers, canals and lakes has not proved value for money after contribution of £8 million did not encourage significant improvement.
The report 'Tackling Diffuse Water Pollution in England: Environment Agency’ (HC 188) reviews the Agency’s agreement set out in 2000 to improve water quality over a 27 year period.
Government water management response "lacklustre"
The House of Lords Science and Technology Committee
criticise the Government for a “lacklustre response” to
'Water Management Report (HL 191-I)' published
in June 2006.
This ‘follow-up’ Report states that the Government is
not engaging sufficiently with the Committee’s recommendations, which
included measures to deal with high levels of unpaid water bills and ways of
addressing water affordability for vulnerable groups and those in financial
need.
Ofwat “does not understand” consumer water
use
The Water Services Regulation Authority (Ofwat) is the
economic regulator of water services in England and Wales, with responsibility
for setting price limits that allow the 22 main water companies to secure
sustainable supplies at the lowest cost to the consumer.
This Report
from the House of Commons Committee of Public Accounts
‘Ofwat:
Meeting the demand for water’ (HC 286) finds that Ofwat needs to make
changes to its regulatory system, in particular on water efficiency, data
quality, and enforcement, given the increasing challenges to water supplies due
to low rainfall and predictions of housing growth.
Floods of 2007 examined
The floods that occurred across several areas of the country in June and July 2007 were on a scale not seen for sixty years and exposed the vulnerability of the nation's critical infrastructure to flooding.
Two thirds of the summer 2007 flooding was caused by surface water flooding, often after intense heavy rainfall overwhelmed drainage systems and no organisation currently has responsibility for surface water flooding, at either the national or local level.