The Public Accounts Committee concludes that regulation of the water companies by OFWAT and the Environment Agency has been a failure

Today, the Public Accounts Committee (PAC) publishes the findings from its inquiry into water sector regulation, which echo what WildFish has said for many years now.

WildFish supports the report’s conclusions that regulators: “appear unable to deter companies from acting unlawfully” and that “over many years, the Environment Agency and Ofwat have failed to ensure water companies maintain vital infrastructure. Ofwat and the Environment Agency (EA) have not done enough to ensure companies actively manage their infrastructure”.

WildFish also agrees entirely with the MPs that: “Government must act now to strengthen regulators and support their efforts to hold companies to account”.

In the section of the report on sewage pollution in rivers, the PAC reflects what the Office for Environmental Protection concluded about OFWAT and the Environment Agency in its Decision Notices last winter, which found failures to comply with environmental law in relation to regulatory oversight of untreated sewage discharges. These findings were made in response to a WildFish complaint upheld by the Office for Environmental Protection, as well as the outcome of the WildFish Judicial Review in 2023.

In response, Guy Linley-Adams, Solicitor at WildFish, said: “The Public Accounts Committee has done a superb job and has identified concisely and accurately that the problem has been poor regulation of the water industry by Ofwat and the Environment Agency over very many years. That is exactly what WildFish has been saying and what the Office for Environmental Protection concluded in response to a referral made by WildFish.

This ultimately boils down to a question of political will. Does the current government have the political will to bring this problem properly under control at last and see greater investment over a prolonged period, to turn the ship around? Or is it merely interested in tinkering at the edges and shifting the legal goalposts, in the hope that they do enough to dampen down public anger and protest? We shall see.”

For more, follow the link below to read our submission to the Public Accounts Committee.