* Introduction of major new legislation for the water sector will deliver the most significant increase in enforcement powers in a decade
* Water (Special Measures) Bill hands new powers to regulators to ban bonuses and impose tougher penalties for law-breaking, including imprisonment for water bosses
* In a speech this week, the Secretary of State outlined his long-term vision to reform the sector and clean up water pollution
The Labour Government has introduced major legislation to crack down on water bosses polluting Britain’s rivers, lakes and seas - the most significant increase in enforcement powers in a decade.
Record levels of sewage were pumped into Britain's rivers in 2023, the final full year of the Conservative government. The number of hours of sewage spilling into our waterways in Birmingham, Edgbaston skyrocketed by 69%, to 360 hours in 2023, compared to 213 in 2022.
The Water (Special Measures) Bill has been introduced to parliament and will give regulators new powers to take tougher and faster action to crack down on water companies damaging the environment and failing their customers.
The Bill delivers on the manifesto pledges to clean up the water sector, including significantly increasing the ability of the Environment Agency to bring forward criminal charges against lawbreaking water executives. It will create new tougher penalties, including imprisonment, for water executives when companies fail to co-operate or obstruct investigations.
The new legislation will also ban the payment of bonuses to water bosses if they fail to meet high standards to protect the environment, their consumers and their company’s finances.
Other measures in the Bill include severe and automatic fines for a range of offences, including allowing regulators to issue penalties more quickly, without having to direct resources to lengthy investigations. It will also introduce independent monitoring of every sewage outlet, with water companies required to publish real-time data for all emergency overflows. Discharges will have to be reported within an hour of the initial spill.
Preet Kaur Gill MP, said:
“14 years of Conservative failure has meant raw toxic sewage is being pumped into our waterways in Birmingham, Edgbaston.
“That is why the Labour government has introduced immediate action to end the disgraceful behaviour of water companies and their bosses.
“Under this Labour Government, water executives will no longer line their own pockets whilst pumping out this filth. If they refuse to comply, they could end up in the dock and face prison time.
“This Bill is a major step forward in our wider reform to fix the broken water system. The Labour Government will outline further legislation to fundamentally transform how the water industry is run and speed up the delivery of upgrades to our sewage infrastructure to clean up our waterways for good.
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