The Department for Environment, Food & Rural Affairs has launched a new wide-ranging consultation on its proposals to modernise water regulation, improve long-term planning for water resources and drainage and strengthen powers for Ofwat.

Launching the consultation, Defra said it has identified opportunities to modernise regulation to enable better long-term planning and give regulators the powers they need to improve the water environment and water services. The wide-ranging consultation sets out proposals for:

Better long-term planning for water resources and drainage through:

• improved water resources planning to facilitate collaborative regional planning and consider all sectors of water users; and
• statutory drainage and wastewater planning to assess fully wastewater network capacity and to develop collaborative solutions with local authorities, who are responsible for parts of the drainage system.

Modernising water regulation by:

• reforming abstraction licensing to clarify when Environment Agency can amend licences to secure good ecological status for water bodies
• amending laws to allow a new charging methodology for Internal Drainage Boards – the change will enable government to expand existing Boards or create new ones
• making the Somerset Rivers Authority a flood Risk Management Authority
• modernising the process for modifying water company licence conditions and to strengthen Ofwat’s ability to improve the way that water companies operate and to obtain information from water companies in England.
• initiating discussions around enabling new local funding to be raised raising funds to tackle flooding and coastal erosion -

The consultation paper points out that many drainage assets are the responsibility of local authorities, and says the water companies need to understand better how and what water these assets feed into their networks. While the water companies have legal responsibilities for ensuring effective drainage and sewerage, they are not legally required to put in place long-term plans for managing wastewater.

The water industry has already begun a non-statutory process of developing Drainage and Wastewater Management Plans. Defra is now seeking views on whether and how Drainage and Wastewater Management Plans could be placed on a statutory footing. "This could enable water companies to secure and prioritise investment on drainage and wastewater more effectively than through a non-statutory approach," the paper says.

More powers to raise additional local funds for flood and coastal risk management

The paper says that in the face of increasing population and climate change, flood and coastal management cannot be the responsibility of central government alone. To ensure the country is able to better manage the risks, and minimise the risks of harm from flooding and coastal erosion, the government wants to begin discussions on how local communities can raise funds for flood and coastal risk management that can complement the national investment.

The paper says:

"We are beginning to consider more widely the powers or mechanisms that could help raise additional local funds for flood and coastal risk management."

 The government is currently considering future policy to ensure that the country is better prepared for the challenges ahead and will publish a Policy Statement in 2019.

Other areas where Defra is proposing significant change include:

• Extending the circumstances in which abstraction licences which are causing or could cause environmental damage can be revoked or varied without compensation being payable to the licence holder
• Improving the Water Resources Management Plan process in England and giving the Secretary of State a power to direct water companies to prepare joint plans at a regional or possibly larger scale.
• Improving Ofwat’s information gathering powers, modelling a new provision on Ofgem’s information gathering power which allows them to compel companies and anyone else specified by the Secretary of State in regulations to provide information. A company’s failure to provide the information requested could result in a fine.

Commenting on strengthening Ofwat's information-gathering powers, the paper flags up the March  2018 “freeze/thaw” incident when Ofwat carried out informal requests for information to assess the situation. defra said the incident highlighted the importance of the regulator being able to gather information promptly from water companies in a broad range of circumstances. Thre paper states:

"As it did not have specific powers of enforcement in relation to requests for general information, Ofwat could not specify an enforceable deadline for receiving information, even though the issue was urgent. Ofwat’s ability to obtain comprehensive and prompt responses was therefore compromised."

Deadline to submit comments to the consultation is 12 March 2019.

Click here to download the consultation paper Improving our management of water in the environment - Consultation proposals